Hello and how are you? The 3^rd of January 2026 sees the Mighty Cannon make a visit to the south coast of England to do battle with Bournemouth AFC at the Vitality stadium. KO is at 5.30pm (UK time) and expected weather is partly cloudy with temps of 1° ( feels like -6° ).

So, the Arsenal go south after a rousing defeat of top-of the table challengers, Aston Villa. A victory which gave everybody a glimmer of what could be, come May. However, until then it’s a tough climb up the north face of our Premier League mountain scramble for the summit, and we start at basecamp 1 against Bournemouth. As George pointed out in the last preview, the longer we lead the pack, the more massive each game becomes, and although the Villa game gave us a bit of a swagger its important to concentrate on each game as it comes and not start dreaming of frolics in Maytime?

The Cherries are no wins in ten, although they made an impressive draw with Chelsea last time out, but Ben Gannon-Doak (thigh), Veljko Milosavljevic (knee), Tyler Adams (knee) are all AWOL and the big question mark hangs over Antoine Semenyo (transfer? could be his last game?), Lewis Cook (neck), Ryan Christie (knee).

Declan looks like he will sit this one out too ( but the Villa game underlined the depth and quality of our squad?), also Riccardo Calafiori and Cristhian Mosquera will also be absent, as will Max Dowman. Gabriel Magalhaes (cramp), I’m sure will be back, as really, he was just listening to the Cramps. And who can blame him?

Although still hung-over from their New Years party, the boys at Statto HQ handed over the facts and figures: Bournemouth have been given a 15.9% chance of winning and the Arsenal 63.4 %. Next up, we entertain our old pals Liverpool at Ashburton Grove for the late fixture on the 9^th of January. So COYG!

Mills

Uther than the front 3 I would expect the same starting line up from the Villa game. It would be easy to go with Trossard and Sake again, but I feel they could be on the bench as “finishers”. Jesus and Havertz will need some minutes, so maybe we could see them sharing the 90?. I wouldn’t like to wager much on the reality of my opinion mind. The line up will tell us quite a bit about what rotation we might see from here on in. I “hope” our great squad strength is used for more than just cover for injuries, nut we will see.

Enjoy the game friends.

Pedantic George.

Hello and how are you? Tuesday the 30th of December sees the Mighty Cannon play out its last game for 2025, this time against title- contenders Aston Villa. KO at the Emirates is at 8.15pm. Expected weather is partly cloudy and the temperature is 4°(feels like 1°).

So the Arsenal go into this game having played relatively well against Brighton, but also wasted way too many chances, and I’m sure they will look to rectifiy that and show the third placed Villa what we can do if we put our minds to it, in what promises to be a very exciting game.

The Lions are on eleven straight wins after an amazing come back against Chelsea. Arteta’s boys need to keep their eyes on dangermen Watkins, McGinn and Rogers. Jadon Sancho has also looked good. But then after the match up on the 6th, we don’t really need any reminders, yet the Arsenal are unbeaten in five since that last-second loss.

Great to see Gabriel back (how much we’ve missed both him and Mosquera) but I also hope Saka finds his shooting boots soon and that big Vic can get more in the back of the net, he needs it as much as we do. Who knows who the Gunners might bring in this transfer window?

Ben White (hamstring), Cristhian Mosquera (ankle), Kai Havertz (knee), Max Dowman (ankle) will sit this one out for the Cannon, whilst Evann Guessand (Africa cup of nations), Ross Barkley (knee), Tyrone Mings (thigh), Pau Torres (calf), Matty Cash (suspended), Boubacar Kamara (suspended)are all unavailable for the Villains. However, I’m reading that Kai might be back for this one… Mosquera and White should be ready for the Forest game. Timber! might be also return having sat it out against Brighton, after landing awkwardly in the penalty shoot out against Palace.

I hunted down the boys at Statto HQ who were buying fireworks for New Years, and they offered me a cracker statto-wise: The Arsenal are at 63.3% for a win and Villa are on 14.7%. That’s it for 2025, and I wish you all a “Guten Rutsch!” into 2026. Next up an away-day on the south coast against Bournemouth. So COYG!
Mills

One thing about sitting top of the tree with City on our coattails is that every game becomes a massive game. Especially wen that game is against the team sitting in third place with a manager that seems to have a hex on our boss. The good news is that after this evening, we don’t have to play them again. I’m a bit of a coward and to be honest, this game scares the pants off of me.

Every game seems like it takes a pint of blood to get over the winning line, although we control most games, often dominating, the score lie never seems to reflect said domination. I saw a statistic that in recently we hve have an open play xG of almost 10 but only scored one goal. The good news is that this anomaly can’t last, it will even out and we will start scoring more goal if we maintain our chance creation. Let’s hope that tonight is the night that balance is restored, a comfortable will will make a “happy new year” an easier get.

Enjoy the game and I’ll see you all next year.

Pedantic George.

Hello and how are? Having traversed the multiverses of Yuletide gluttony, Saturday the 27th of December sees the Mighty Cannon swing back in Premier League action, this time against Brighton & Hove Albion at Ashburton Grove. KO is at 3.00pm UK time. Expected weather is cloudy with temps at 8° (feels like 1°) and 0% chance of rain.

AWOL for Areta are Ben White (hamstring), Cristhian Mosquera (ankle), Gabriel Magalhaes (thigh or hamstring depending on which outlet you read), Kai Havertz (knee), Max Dowman (ankle), whilst Piero Hincapie (shoulder), Gabriel Martinelli (knock) look like the unlikely lads. But I have heard it whispered in the whispering gallery that Kai’s back in training, so hopefully we can see him in action against Villa?

Non-flyers for Herzuler’s heroes are, Stefanos Tzimas (knee), Adam Webster (knee), Solly March (knee), Carlos Baleba (Africa Cup of nations).

The Seagulls are in 9th in the PL: W6 D6 L5 F25 A23. City plays first tomorrow in the lunchtime game against Forest so we could be trailing again going into this one. Which hopefully we can use to our advantage.

Our chums at Statto HQ, despite having lost all their money at the Boxing Day races, handed over a crumple peice of paper with the match stas on. They give The Arsenal a 68.3% chance of winning and Brighton 12.7%.

Next up the Villains, at ours, and time for revenge. So until then, COYG!

Mills

Well Christmas cheer has flooded over our fanbase, well most of them, and the doom of City snapping at our coattails is somehow less daunting, despite it still being only a two point gap. Now I’m qwll aware that Mikel’s risk adverse physiology has many of us wit nagging doubts, especially as City seem to be committed to scoring their way past us, well time will tell. No point us crying too hard as there is zero chance of him changing, and rightly so I believe, because one must have belief in yourself if you want to achieve great things. In the end he will live or die on his decisions.

I’m quietly confident that the returns of Jesus and Havertz will add more flair and goals organically within the constraints of Arteta’s system.

Enjoy the game and the rest of your holiday period.

Pedantic George.

Hello and how are you? Tuesday the 23rd of December sees the Mighty Cannon in action again, this time we host a Christmas bash at Ashburton Grove in our QF Carabao cup game against FA cup holders Crystal Palace. KO is at 8.pm UK time. Expected weather is 7° (feels like 0 to-1°). Partly cloudy and 19% chance of rain.

As the Gunners top domestic and euro leagues we now go in search of silverware. Of all the competitions that we can take part in the League Cup is the one we have the oddest relationship with, one certainly we’ve not really excelled in, at least in comparison to other clubs? It would be great of we could lift the Carabao cup and lighten up the Arsenal barracks. Palace come into this one having been trounced by Leeds, their league form has been dropping off a bit (but in touch with Europa League chances in 8th place), winless in three, with nine goals conceded, so I’m sure they are hoping to turn things around and go further in this competition. Previous meetings: 59 Arsenal wins: 36 Draws: 17 defeats.

Gabriel Magalhaes,Cristhian Mosquera, Max Dowman and Ben White are Christmas-crocked.But it will be sure interesting to see who Areteta picks.
For Palace, Ismaila Sarr, Daichi Kamada and Daniel Munoz will be absent and aren’t glad all over, neither are Rio Cardines, Cheick Doucoure, Caleb Kporha and Chadi Riad who will also be absent. Theres all sorts of speculation about Mateta (and his on-going knee injury) and Eddie being dropped, but to be honest I haven’t a clue, so we shall see.

Statto HQ stopped and looked up from creating extensive lists about the possiblities in advanced vectors and gave us the stats. The Arsenal are at 60.6% and Palace have been given 16.1 %. Well thats it, wishing everyone at PA a great and safe Christmas. And of course, COYG!
Mills

Top of the PL and CL at Christmas, no one, and I mean no Arsenal fam is unhappy with that. However, a good few are unhappy with our style of play. It’s slow and safe for the most part. Now, that wont matter a jot if it brings us silverware, but if it doesn’t, people will bemoan us not trying to score more than one goal in tight games. Our tendency to hang on has already cost us dear at Sunderland and and Villa then almost again against an awful Wolves team, it could have happened again at Everton. We are skating on thin ice. This is how Arteta wants us to play, control possession and be ultra solid in defence. we have to accept that, like it or not, but what I can’t accept is the players getting blamed for it.

Now, I’m not moaning, just pointing out that it’s our risk adverse manager insisting that the players follow his risk adverse instructions.

Anyway, I expect a good few changes tomorrow and a more open game that should lift us before we all dig into our Turkey and mince pies. Which I hope you all enjoy.

Pedantic George

Hello and how are you? Wednesday the 10th of December sees the Mighty Cannon take a trip to Bruges, Belgium as Arsenal play against Club Brugge KV at the Jan Breydl stadium (capacity of 29,042) in the next of our Champions League games. KO off is at  21.00pm Central European time (8.00pm UK time) and expected weather is cloudy with 10° C (feels like 6°) and 0-1% chance of rain.

Well after the last second loss to Aston Villa I’m sure we are all hoping for a convincing victory against Club Brugge to cheer us up. A victory would all but confirm us in the last 16 and we have already have made it to the play-off phase if all should go acki-kacki.

in our remaining three games.

134 yr old Royal Brugge have been struggling domestically in the Jupiler Pro League (down to third place W10 D2 L2 F24 A17 and have only won one in the last four) and in the CL, although their only point in the CL was a respectable one grabbed from Barca in a 3-3 draw. The Blauw-zwarts lie in 26th and are W1 D1 L3 F8 A13.

As  I mentioned in the forum, Club Brugge have let go of Nicky Hayen (manager since March 2024) and replaced him with Croatian Ivan Leko, poached from Gent, who seemed to be themselves shocked by the change. ” oi! who said you could do that?”

Cristhian Mosquera (ankle) and Gabriel Magalhaes (thigh) are both out, young Willie Saliba (knock) remains a doubt (dang!) and Riccardo Calafiori was limping at the end at Villa Park, so who knows? Mr Rice and Mr Merino must tread a delicate path as if either see yellow they will miss the match against Inter.

Sitting this one out for FCB are goalkeepers Simon Mignolet (overstretching) and Nordin Jackers (rib fracture) both players missed the weekend’s defeat against St Truiden.

Bruges centre-back Zaid Romero (back), midfield men Lynnt Audoor (muscle) and Ludovit Reis (shoulder) and striker Romeo Vermant (concussion) will also miss this clash.

Our euro-friendly chums at Statto HQ have give the Arsenal a 71.4% chance of winning, and Club Brugge a mere 11.1%. Next up for the Gunners, a home tie against Wolves in a late Saturday KO. So COYG!

Mills

It doesn’t take much to dent the confidence of our fanbase, one defeat after 18 unbeaten games and apparently City will run away with the league? Ah well, it was fun while it lasted.

I have to believe our bad run with injuries will come to an end, logic tells us that we won’t continue to to have the most injuries in the division, the law of averages must kick in. We will have 4 or 5 “like a new player” back for the second half , that has to put us in an even stronger position than we already are.

And by the way, City are not the City of 3 or 4 years ago. Keep the faith. CARMON ARSENAL, as Frank used to say.

Pedantic George

Hello and how are you? The 3rd of December sees the Mighty Cannon clash again with local neighbours, this time Brentford FC. Kick off is at 20.30pm Central European time (7.30pm UK time) at the Emirates Stadium. Expected weather is 8°c (feels like 6°) partly cloudy and between 6 and 18% chance of rain.

So here we be again as the games come thick and fast in the red zone section of the season, and as we take the vitamins and drink lots of water we face another scrap, this time with Brentford. The Bees are currently in 10th place (W6 D1 L6 F21 A20), but lets not see this as a stroll at the Emirates Park, even if it might turn out to be one, Brentford have beaten Liverpool, Manchester United and Newcastle, drew with Chelsea and were only beaten 1-0 by Man City and made a mighty come back in the last ten against Burnley.

The old historical tête-à-tête be: P 22 AFC wins 10 draws 6 and BFC wins 6, last April it was a Grrr! of a 1-1 draw at the Emirates. The Bees aren’t frightened to play a five man defence, which I’m sure will be exciting for those who like to go bus spotting. They also like long throws and other set pieces as much as we do, but get much less media attention over it.

After the clot of a game against Chelsea (and their offside goal), I hope we can bounce back to playing some decent football but I suppose we can expect Brentford to also play hard (foul) as much as possible? I also hope that instead of pundits predicting either us winning or losing the PL at this point in the season, we as a club can just keep going game by game.

We may sees some changes for the Arsenal line up and the appearance of Ben White instead of Timber! If Calafiori picks up another yellow he will miss the Villa clash, so Myles may start for this one? Gabriel is still out (hamstring) Saliba (a knock?) looks doubtful, Trossard (muscle) too, not sure where Kai is or whats happening? Saka might also be rested. I don’t know and there’s bound to be changes before tomorrows KO.

As usual I contacted our chums at Statto HQ and the nerds give the Arsenal a 71.7% chance of winning and the Bee team 10.4%

Up next, the Villains, at theirs, when Saturday comes. So COYG!

Mills

Another test of our squad, fitness and temperament. Not an easy fixture, this lot can play. I’m glad it’s Mikel picking the team, because I wouldn’t know what the hell to do.

I can’t even decide whether I’m confident or not. I’ll know better how I feel when I see the team sheet.

Pedantic George.

Hello and how are you? The 30th of November sees the Mighty Cannon make a visit to west London and take on Chelsea FC at Stamford Bridge. Kick off is at 17.30pm central European time (4.30pm UK time) Expected weather is clear with some cloud and temps 6° (feels like 2°) and 0% chance of rain.

After the successful mid-week Champions League victories for both sides, this fixture has now been elevated to another level of importance. A win would put the Gunners way out in front (to the disgust of many) but a loss would mean the furious glee of keyboard and pundit schadenfreude vlogging us in the social media square of justice for the next week or so. How nice it must be to know everything and tell others exactly how it is and how it should be?

The words I’m reading online are putting Chelsea into the driving seat, especially after the Barca game, but two of Chelsea’s goals were utterly unusual keystone-cop capered mistakes by Barca, and certainly despite all the goals disallowed for offside, the scoreline flattered Chelsea somewhat? And as we saw (heard) with some voices from the Bayern camp after their loss, whatever you say or do, someone will criticise it.

 The pursuit of perfection mostly means going down a rabbit hole of eventually failure (he wrote not bothering to give any examples) and a state of total perfection exists in utopia, a place where we can’t. It might mean weathering a storm of expected parasitical criticism, but pragmatism (at least to a degree) mostly yields a good harvest and the Gunners are quite capable of playing dynamic football and scoring exciting goals as much as having a grabba from set pieces. But who needs facts when aggrieved egos are upset? 

Anyway enough of that crap, Chelsea are still without Mudryk (suspended) and  Levi Colwill (ACL) and Romeo Lavia (thigh) out for the Blues, and the pundits are frothingly excited that Cole Palmer is available for the first time since 20th of September but perhaps Maresca will play him as a sub rather than risk him as a starter?

Big Vic is still not available ( hamstring) and neither is Kai (knee) but may mysteriously turn up on the bench, but def Gabriel Magalhaes (hamstring) and Gabriel Jesus (fitness) be not available at all.

Hopefully Trossard might be able to bounce back after his tumbles against Bayern and let it be a happy Advent hunting ground for Madueke who returns to his old neighbourhood.

Statto HQ have reckoned up the hot facts and figures and calculated that the Arsenal have a 43.1% chance of winning and Chelsea are at 28.3 %. Next up Brentford at the Emirates. So COYG!

Mills

Mikel keeps us guessing about who will or will not be fit to make the bench so wo knows, the good thing is our squad strength means we can cope. If Trossard makes it I expect the same starting eleven that demolished Spurs. Despite Chelsea being put forward as our main rivals it’s difficult not to feel confident a bad result will come, they always do, but if it’s not today we will holding te high ground running up to Christmas.

Exciting times. Chelsea will I suspect , have a go, and that will do us nicely.

Enjoy the game.

Pedantic George.