If you were not already optimistic over the new season following last weekends thrashing of football, this weekends results should have more than whetted your appetite.

A comfortable opening day win against Coventry City took us to top of the table, and then the rest of the weekend unrolled.

Firstly we had Manchester United putting the “it was only Coventry” argument to bed by losing to Hull City. Then in the later kick off, Tottenham lost to Brentford.

A few years ago we lost to Brentford on the opening day of the season. Our team was stripped to the bare bones with Covid illness and injury. At the final whistle, Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville were in with the crowd celebrating. Mikel Arteta was being written off and no mention of our squad issues were discussed.

Following Brentford taking Spurs to the cleaners, their apologists were out to whoever would listen. From “bought a lot of players who need time to settle” to “this was basically Spurs’ B team due to their injuries”. The truth is you can not put lipstick on a pig. Spurs have bought a bunch of mid-table players and suddenly were being labelled as title challengers. Meanwhile out title challenge was being write off just because we tried and failed to sign Vinicus Jr.

Moving into Sunday, we very nearly got a great result with Manchester City v Bournemouth. Man City needing two late goals to come back from the brink. More excuses followed of “sold a lot of players” and “new manager”. But all the game did was reinforce what we all saw in the Community Shield – Man City under the ex-Chelsea boss are not the same as Man City under Pep.

Finally Liverpool. A 98th minute penalty to draw against Newcastle. And as with those before them, pundits were lining up to defend them. The justification was new manager, new players, and key players returning from injury. Claims of more will sign and that will drive them forward.

Tonight we have Chelsea. Will they be another title contender to fail to win on opening day? Or will they grab the 3-points in the West London Derby (is that the worst derby in English football?).

All I know is you can only beat what is in front of you. We beat Coventry. Comfortably. Liverpool, Man U and Spurs all failed to win.

Now I am not crowning us champions already. Liverpool won their first 5 games of last season and looked ready to romp away with the title before losing 6 of their next 7. But anyone that thought we would be worse than last season having not signed Vinicius Jr should have had a wake up call. And anyone who thought Man U, Liverpool, Man City and Tottenham were all going to be hugely better also would have had a wake up call.

Next up is Aston Villa away, who I have not even mentioned yet.

Thrashed 4-nil on the opening day of the season. Lost their best centre back in Ezri Konsa, best midfielder in Youri Tielemans and best attacker in Morgan Rogers, the trio could soon be joined out the door by Ollie Watkins. Villa fans put Unai Emery on a pedestal. Some Arsenal fans still try and make the case that Emery has “proved he is better than Arteta.”

The truth is Emery is what he has always been – someone very good at managing the 6th to 8th best team in the league, getting them to top 5 or 6 consistently, winning the odd minor honour, but never capable of pushing them on to the next level.

I would not be surprised if this is Emery’s last season with Villa. They look like a team who will really struggle. Maybe even a relegation battle ahead. And he will crack under the pressure, as he always does, become a tinkerman and then walk away. Villa fans will then blame is all on the PSR fella.

Enjoy your week. It will be a good one!

Keenos

There’s nothing quite like the first game of a new Premier League season. Everyone’s on zero points, everyone’s got a fresh excuse for optimism, and suddenly every summer signing looks like the missing piece.

For Arsenal, though, Friday night is a little different. They’re not just starting a new campaign — they’re starting the defence of their Premier League title. The Gunners welcome newly promoted Coventry City to the Emirates, with Mikel Arteta’s side expected to get off to a winning start.

And if Arsenal’s Community Shield performance is anything to go by, Coventry could have picked a slightly nicer fixture for their return to the big time.

Arsenal were excellent against Manchester City last weekend, cruising to a 3-0 victory and looking every inch a side ready to go again. Riccardo Calafiori, Kai Havertz and Martin Ødegaard got the goals, while new signing Christos Tzolis made an immediate impression with two assists.

That’s probably the biggest headache for Coventry. Arsenal have quality all over the pitch, and they now have even more depth to work with.

Bruno Guimarães is the headline addition, arriving from Newcastle in a £75m deal, although there is a question mark over whether he’ll feature after picking up a leg issue in the Community Shield. Declan Rice may also be managed carefully after only playing 45 minutes last weekend.

Still, even with a couple of players missing or being eased in, Arsenal have plenty of weapons. Bukayo Saka, Ødegaard and Havertz can cause serious problems, while the home side should be looking to dominate possession and pin Coventry back.

For Coventry, this is about as tough as Premier League returns get.

After 25 years away from the top flight, Frank Lampard’s side have been handed a trip to the reigning champions on the opening night. They then face Manchester City in their next fixture, so the fixture computer really hasn’t shown much sympathy.

But that might actually make this a free hit for Coventry. Nobody seriously expects them to stroll into the Emirates and boss Arsenal, so Lampard’s team can simply go out there, compete and see what happens.

Coventry have also invested heavily over the summer, reportedly spending around £100m on new recruits as they prepare for life back in the Premier League. They’ve got every intention of staying up rather than treating this as a one-season adventure.

The key for them will be surviving the early pressure. If they can frustrate Arsenal for the first 20 or 30 minutes, the crowd could get a little twitchy. But if Arsenal score early, it could become a very long evening.

So, what’s the prediction?

It’s difficult to look past Arsenal here. The champions are at home, they’ve already shown good form, and they’ve got the confidence that comes with finally winning the title last season.

Coventry will give it a go, and there’s every chance they make things awkward for a while. But over 90 minutes, Arsenal should simply have too much.

Prediction: Arsenal 3-0 Coventry.

A new season, a new challenge and, Arsenal fans will hope, another title charge. Not a bad way to kick things off.

DJ

A lot has been written over recent years about Arsenal having a larger net spend than its rivals. This always comes from a negative standpoint in an attempt to highlight that Arsenal are the “biggest spenders” and therefore should not have additional praise for beating Manchester City, Chelsea, et al to the Premier League title.

Now I concede that over the years, Arsenal have not been the best sellers.

Our club record sale still remains Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain at around £35m. That is clearly not great. And this is further compounded by us getting nothing for the likes of Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang, Mesut Ozil, Sead Kolasinac, Alexandre Lacazette, Hector Bellerin, Nicolas Pepe, Kieran Tierney and Ainsley Maitland-Niles in recent years.

One area where we certainly need to improve is in the selling of academy graduates.

Had we sold them earlier, the likes of Maitland-Niles, Reiss Nelson could have pocketed us in excess of £30m. Instead we held on, offered big new contracts and, if Nelson leaves for nothing this summer, got £0 for them. This is why I would not be upset to see Ethan Nwaneri depart this summer if Mikel Artera does think think he quite has it.

But there is another side to this “net spend” coin that is rarely talked about – having a high net spend would show that you have actually bought well.

From 2021 to 2026… this is Manchester City's transfer spend, transfer sales and net spend in comparison to Arsenal.

Mind blowing🤯🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/KqwoE3b99p

— Luke🏆🏆🏆 (@Komps4) August 19, 2026

Now I do not know the accuracy of this image. The Manchester City figure does feel a very low. But on the face of it, the tweet shows that Arsenal have been poor in the transfer market, having a net spend nearly £700m more than Man City. Chelsea fans have also posted similar infographics in recent years.

The story these sort of graphics do not tell, however, is that many teams who have a high total sales do so because they have bought poorly, and those sales are them dumping players that did not work out.

Meanwhile, Arsenal have bought brilliantly since 2021, had very little turnover of players and therefore very little need to sell. The result is a settled squad which led to the first title in 22 years and has us as favourites this summer. And this is reflected through our high net spend.

Manchester City have already dumped Tijjani Reijnders and James Trafford – both signed last season. Whilst also set to be out of the door this summer are Nico Gonzales, Omar Marmoush and Savinho; all of whom have only been at the club for 18 months. That is over £200m worth of talent signed in the last 18-months deemed not good enough and sold.

If all 3 depart, that will be 6 of the 15 players Man City signed since January 2025 that they have sold. That is very poor. Meanwhile, Arsenal have sold just one player signed since 2023 – Christian Norgaard. And in that period we have finished above City 2 out of 3 times, with both clubs having a league title each.

So this is how it works.

Arsenal sign £500m worth of talent. That £500m worth of talent performs so the club does not need to sell. They then have a £500m net spend over the period.
Man City sign £500m worth of talent. £200m of that talent does not perform and is sold. Man City recoup much of the sale price. They have a net spend of £300m over the period.

Why would it be deemed a negative that one team buys well and wins the league, whilst another team buys poorly and dumps players within 18-months? It is only really seen bad to those who put weight on net spend tables.

Let me lay out another scenario.

Arsenal sign Declan Rice for £100m. He performs well and does not spend to be sold. He then shows as a £100m cost, with £0 sale value, on a net spend table.

Than you have Nico Gonzalez. He is signed for £50m. He performs poorly and is later sold for £50m. 6-months after Gonzalez joins, Man City sign Tijjani Reijnders for £55m. He performs poorly and is later sold for £55m. Then Man City spend £65m on Ayyoub Bouaddi

There net spend during that period across the 3 players is £65m. That is £35m less than what Arsenal spent on Declan Rice. Brilliant business by Man City on the net spend tables. But the reality is they are set to be on their 3rd attempt to buy a central midfielder since failing to sign Rice, whilst Declan Rice has been a huge success at Arsenal.

And when it comes to amortisation and book value, net spend means nothing. A player leaving for nothing after 7 or 8 successful years is not accounted for in net spend tables and is seen as a negative transfer move by those only considered with net spend. Meanwhile a player leaving after 12-18 months having been a poor signing is seen as a positive transfer move by the net spend obsessed.

Spending £2bn and receiving £1bn in transfer fees (Chelsea), is not the sign of a well run club. It is the sign of a team that churns through players.

Then you have Arsenal who spend £1bn, have received £200m and have a similar net spend to Chelsea during that period. All that means is we signed players who have been a success, and have not felt the need to continually buy and sell in an attempt to find a formula that works. Arteta has already found that formula. And we are Champions.

Ultimately, our high net spend over the last 5-years is a credit to our buying strategy. And winning the title shows it has been a success.

Keenos

PS: the real net spend table from 2021 is below: