Do it for Vieira. Do it for Lokonga. Just do it!

Eleven matches. Eleven. That's all that stands between us and Prem glory. There is but one path to follow. We really have no choice other than to fully commit to those eleven matches, and that commitment starts against Crystal Palace. Fortunately, they've made the choice crystal-clear after having sacked an Arsenal legend after refusing to back him. It would have been nice to see an Arsenal legend establish himself as a successful manager, all the more so given the meagreness of melanin among the managerial ranks, but that's another axe to grind on another day. 

Partey's injured? Sign Caicedo at £75m—please!

It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times. Or something. Going into the FA Cup fourth round tie with Manchester City, it looked like we were going to have our cake and eat it too. Despire a fair amount of rotation amid the hostile environs of the Etihad—wait—does jaded diffidence count as "hostile"? Were it not for the boiserous away fans, one might have thought we were back to COVID-lockdown era empty stadiums. Anyway, a mixed squad had Man City on the ropes for long stretches until Thomas Partey picked up a knock and had to come off. Instead of all that cake, we came away with the blurst of times: got knocked out and suffered a major injury to a vital player.

Have Arsenal prepared a SHOCK sale of Partey?

Sigh. Here we go. With little other club news to report, and even less Arsenal-related World Cup news to report, would-be journos are suggesting that Arsenal are ready to offer Thomas Partey and £20m to pry Ismaël Bennacer away from AC Milan and bring him back to Arsenal after his brief spell in the youth set-up didn't work out. It must be said that Bennacer has impressed with the rossoneri, boosting his valuation to something close to £40m. Still, the idea that we'd swap the midfielder who is arguably our most irreplaceable for a relatively unproven player is enough to suggest that the silly season has indeed begun in earnest, and several weeks early to boot. Then again, with little else to delve into (except maybe the pseudo-retirement of Messi to Miami), let's have a look at this little rumour, shall we?

A Leviathan Rises From the Deep...

Three wins from three. Five goals scored from five different scorers. At a risk of sounding melodramatic, there is absolutely no other conclusion to draw other than the Arsenal, the mighty, mighty Arsenal, are back. Okay, so that was a touch more than melodramatic, but, still, it's hard to resist letting just a touch of optimism creep in after such a dire start to this campaign and after such gloomy campaigns prior. Consecutive 8th-place finishes are nothing to write home about, and it's perhaps little surprise that yours truly had stopped writing. This, my friends, is my first post since April 2019—approaching 30 months, give or take. I wonder if I'm as bad as this now as I was back then. Time will tell. Enough about me. It's my least-favorite subject. Back to the action on the pitch and, well, adjacent to it.