AFTV News

Loan watch: Folarin Balogun breaks 47-year-old goal record for Reims  By Ben Hart Arsenal’s loanees enjoyed a fruitful weekend across Europe. One youngster even broke a goal record which had stood for 47 years at his new club. Elsewhere, there were debut goals, first starts and injury absentees. Read below our top three stars of the week, as well as a full round-up of each player hoping to impress away from north London.   Folarin Balogun   Folarin Balogun continued his fine start in Ligue 1, scoring for the third straight game and setting a new club record for loan side Reims.   The 21-year-old has become the first Reims player since Jacques Vergnes in 1975 to score in each of his first three matches for the club.   With three rounds played in the French top-flight, only Neymar and Kylian Mbappe have scored more goals than the England youth international.   Balogun’s latest effort, against Strasbourg, earned Reims their first point of the season after heav...

By Matt Wright In seasons gone by   an article assessing Arsenal’s defending would make for tough reading.  In fact, the same applies for the first month of the 2021/ 2 2 campaign when the Gunners let in nine goals in their first three games, without reply.  Let’s  not lie. A lot of us were expecting a long and painful nine months after such a torrid start, but thankfully it’s been one to finally rekindle  optimism among the faithful at the Emirates Stadium.  It’s natural that, with Arsenal now favourites to finish fourth in the Premier League, supporters would focus on the attackers that have made this possible – Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe, Gabriel Martinelli etc.  However, it’s also been reassuring to know that Mikel Arteta’s men are now less likely to point the barrel at their feet and blow their own toes off at any given second.  That decreased propensity for self-destruction at the back is one of the ways in which the Gunners have improved...

Player Profile: Joel Lopez by Jack Lacey-Hatton Arsenal now possess greater depth at left-back than any other position on the pitch and that now extends beyond the first-team. Joel López Salguero has impressed this year in Arsenal’s development side, and in the coming seasons may be in a position to challenge Kieran Tierney and others. In fact he has already trained with the senior team on several occasions this season, with manager Mikel Arteta clearly keen to get a good look at a player many have tipped to become one of the best young full-backs in Europe. But for those who haven’t tracked his progress so far, let’s dig deeper into Lopez’s background and how he ended up in North London.     Who is he? Lopez was born in Barcelona on March 31 2002, turning 20 at the end of this month. He originally joined his hometown club as a youth team player training at the famous La Masia academy, the centre responsible for Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta among others. Lopez blossomed int...

Player profile: Borna Sosa By Hugo Mirabel Hardy Borna Sosa has recently been linked with a move to not only Arsenal, but also London rivals Chelsea and Tottenham who are believed to be interested in the full-back’s signature. A relatively unknown name to fans outside of the Bundesliga, the 24-year-old Croatian has impressed pundits this season for Stuttgart despite his side facing relegation as they sit 17th in the league. So, who is Borna Sosa? Let’s take a look at the potential summer signing for the Gunners.   Profile:  Born in 1998, he is currently 24 years old and has been at vfB Stuttgart since the 2018/19 season, making 74 appearances across both Bundesliga and the dfB Pokal.  Sosa has scored three goals in that time, two of those coming this season, and has provided 19 assists during his time there, 10 of those coming last season. He is on his way to replicating that again this year, popping up with five assists so far across all competitions.  Sosa mai...

Preview: Everton V Arsenal By Jack Lacey-Hatton Arsenal make another trip to Merseyside on Monday night but this time it's to take on Rafa Benitez’s Everton. After the disappointing 3-2 defeat to Manchester United last time out, it represents a chance to regain both confidence and points, ahead of a busy festive schedule. The natives are restless at Goodison Park after a string of bad results, and the Gunners have a real chance to add more pressure on Benitez, in a potentially hostile atmosphere for the home team. That’s not to say it will be an easy task. Arsenal have had many difficult days on the same ground in recent years, and the Toffees did show earlier on this season they are more than capable of producing a top performance on their day. After losing a lead at Old Trafford in midweek, Mikel Arteta and his players will be desperate to respond with a win as they go back on the road to the north-west. They need to win to keep pace with the top four, particularly afte...

  How has Nuno Tavares adapted to life in north London?  By Tom Masters   Arsenal spent significant amounts of money last summer, with the likes of Ben White, Aaron Ramsdale and Albert Sambi Lokonga brought in for large transfer fees.    One other player that joined the Mikel Arteta regime was a certain Nuno Tavares, who was thought to be Kieran Tierney’s likely deputy.    However, with Tierney suffering from injuries this season, the young Portuguese left-back has had more game-time than perhaps some would have thought.    He has played 90 minutes in Arsenal’s previous six matches, while he also featured in the early season games against Brentford, Chelsea and Burnley.   In those six starts, Tavares has been a part of an Arsenal side who kept two clean sheets while his assist for Bukayo Saka’s goal against Newcastle was invaluable.    Thus, aside from a tough evening at Anfield where the Gunners were defeated 4-0 by a free-sco...

Arsenal 3-1 Aston Villa review By Jack Lacey-Hatton After a difficult night to start to the week against Crystal Palace on Monday, Arsenal found top gear under the lights to ease past Aston Villa. In one of the best displays of the season so far, goals from Thomas Partey, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and the impressive Emile Smith-Rowe sealed a 3-1 win. Here’s the review of the action from Friday night at the Emirates Stadium.   Finding consistency A 3-1 victory over Dean Smith’s Villains meant it is now seven games unbeaten in all competitions for Arsenal. The draws against Brighton and Palace either side of the international break did understandably leave some fans frustrated that precious points were being wasted. But keeping up an unbeaten run when not at your best is an important trait for any Premier League side chasing European football. Yet they roared back to form against Villa with a storming first half, dominating possession and forcing the opposition into m...

Evaluating every summer signing’s start to life at the Emirates By Oscar Maung-Haley With the transfer window firmly shut for the next few months, it’s time to take a look at all of Arsenal’s summer signings and how they’ve started life at the Emirates. It should also be noted that we’re not going to mention new arrival Takehiro Tomiyasu…simply because he’s yet to kick a ball! Ben White Ben White was the headline signing for Arsenal this summer following his £50m move from Brighton & Hove Albion. It’s fair to say his start at the Emirates has been a rollercoaster.  White started the opening day of the season fixture away at newly-promoted Brentford, which saw Arsenal lose 2-0. On the evening, both White and Pablo Mari were bullied by Brentford forward Ivan Toney, who dominated the pair in the air. Following the loss to Brentford, White then contracted COVID-19, missing the next three games of Arsenal action. Given his recent battle with COVID and the shambles that currently sur...