AFTV News

Is this Arsenal squad prepared for the season ahead? By Matt Wright Away we go again. The 2022/23 season is nearly upon us and it is fair to say it has been a while since Arsenal fans have gone into a campaign feeling this optimistic.  It hasn’t always been plain sailing under Mikel Arteta, but the Spaniard managed to get the Gunners pointing in the right direction in 2021/22 with a young team playing vibrant football and showing plenty of promise.  They may have let Champions League qualification slip through their fingers, but the mood has remained positive through the summer thanks to one of the more impressive transfer windows any of us can remember.  We should temper this by not falling into the stereotype many opposition fans have of Gooners: that of getting too giddy off the back of pre-season results, as impressive as they have been.   Strength in depth Ahead of another Friday-night opener, there is far more reason to look forward to facing Crystal Pala...

Three Arsenal pre-season games that fooled us all By Jack Lacey-Hatton Are pre-season friendlies ever an accurate indicator of what is to follow? Trying to predict how Arsenal will get on over the next nine months can be a tricky task at the best of times. It is made near impossible when you throw some rogue friendly results in before the season starts. To some they are just glorified kickabouts, to others they offer an important temperature check on the forthcoming season’s fortunes.  Here are some of the Gunners’ most memorable warm-up matches from down the years. 2015 v Lyon It may be regarded as something of a light appetiser, but the truth is there are few pre-season games of higher quality than the Emirates Cup. The traditional two-day tournament is only ever contested by top sides and 2015 was no different. It was when Arsenal produced a stunning performance to dismantle a talented Lyon team, which featured former Gooner Alexandre Lacazette, 6-0. The team went on to ...

Would Arsenal selling Joe Willock be a mistake? By Jack Lacey-Hatton This summer marks a crossroads in the career of Joe Willock. The 21-year-old has shown his quality in the Premier League, after an incredibly successful loan spell at Newcastle during the 2020-21 season. An attacking midfielder, Willock has energy, pace, is technically capable and knows where the goal is. At the very least, he should be considered an interesting option for Arsenal going forward. But as Willock continues to be linked with other clubs, including Newcastle, Mikel Arteta and the management team could be tempted to cash in, which would help with the wider squad rebuilding that needs to take place. So – would selling Willock be a mistake for Arsenal? Let’s examine the evidence. No The main argument for selling Willock hangs on his transfer value. His remarkable form at Newcastle towards the end of last season will have inflated his price in the transfer market. At a time when shifting players for good...

  Arsenal – what have we learned from pre-season? By Jack Lacey-Hatton It only feels five minutes since Euro 2020, but incredibly we are just one week away from the new Premier League season starting. Arsenal will travel to newly promoted Brentford for a London derby in front of a noisy crowd next Friday night, not the easiest of starts to the new campaign. But what sort of shape are Mikel Arteta’s side in, going into what could be a defining season for the manager? We took a close look at what we have learnt from the pre-season period and what kind of shape the squad are in.   The new signings are ready to go It has been a mixed transfer window so far. Some fans would have expected more both leaving and arriving at the Emirates stadium over the summer. But positives can be taken - Ben White has arrived from Brighton for £50million, and highly-rated full back Nuno Tavares has come in from Benfica. Albert Sambi Lokonga completes the 2021 summer singings so far. Cruc...

  What we learnt from Arsenal's pre-season defeat to Premier League rivals Chelsea By Jack Lacey-Hatton Ahead of next weekend’s final pre-season game against Spurs, Arsenal’s other London rivals Chelsea visited the Emirates on Sunday, coming away with a 2-1 victory. The three clubs are competing in a mini pre-season round robin tournament known as ‘the Mind Series’. But the Gunners started with a defeat, after goals from Kai Havertz and Tammy Abraham. It was another disappointing result from a mixed pre-season, with the start of the new Premier League campaign now under two weeks away. However, games like this are not all about the result. Instead Mikel Arteta will want to be able to spot the errors and rectify them by the time the serious stuff gets underway. So what did we learn from the Chelsea game on Sunday?   Mikel Arteta is still short of top-class options in midfield The game exposed how Arsenal are still struggling for depth in the all-important centr...

Everything you need to know about the upcoming Mind Series By Oscar Maung-Haley Arsenal are putting their fierce local rivalries with Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur to one side, as the three clubs come together as part of ‘The Mind Series’, in aid of mental health charity Mind. The Mind Series will see the London-based sides take on one another in a series of pre-season friendlies, with Arsenal and Chelsea kicking off proceedings on Sunday (August 1) at the Emirates. Arsenal Women are first up, taking on Chelsea Women (KO 12:15pm) before the men’s team face off against the European champions at 3pm. Chelsea and Spurs will play the second game of the series on August 4, with the set of friendlies concluding with a pre-season North London derby between Arsenal and Tottenham four days later. Mental health awareness is something that everyone at one point in their life has to deal with and often people don’t always know how to handle such a tough issue. Mind are a charity dedicated to h...

Tammy Abraham, 24, playing for Chelsea Does Tammy Abraham offer something different? On the surface, Tammy Abraham to Arsenal seems like a bizarre transfer for the club to make.   Firstly, he’s a Chelsea player, surely Arsenal have learnt not to buy Chelsea’s dead wood after the fiasco of our last two transfers from the blue side of London.   Secondly, striker is the only position on the pitch where Arsenal don’t need investment.   Despite Pierre Emerick Aubameyang having his worst season in an Arsenal shirt in 2020/21, the Gunners still have an inform Alexandre Lacazette, the impressive Gabriel Martinelli, and the hard-working Eddie Nketiah to choose from.   Finally, Abraham can’t be expected to provide good value for money considering Chelsea have a record of maximising the sell on value of their fringe players.   Despite all of this, the England international has been linked with a move to Arsenal, Aston Villa, or West Ham this summer after first team opportu...