Matchday one of the 2025/26 Premier League season came and went, with Arsenal grinding out a necessary 1–0 win over Manchester United.
Much has already been said, some good and some bad, about Arsenal’s showing at the Theatre of Dreams on Sunday.
What Arsenal need
Mikel Arteta has now been told there is no way around it, he must secure that left-wing signing before the transfer window slams shut.
On Monday, The Times analysed where Premier League teams currently stand and what they require to mount a successful campaign.
For Arsenal, Paul Hirst noted: “They need a left winger who is good in tight spaces and can provide service to Viktor Gyokeres. Clearing the likes of Oleksandr Zinchenko, Fabio Vieira, Reiss Nelson, Jakub Kiwior, and *Takehiro Tomiyasu will help to finance that move for a winger”.
* Arsenal parted ways with Tomiyasu in early July
Left-wing struggles against United
Gabriel Martinelli failed to impress against United. He drifted through the match largely ineffective, reinforcing the belief that Arsenal’s left wing needs urgent reinforcement.
Although he tracked back well defensively, he failed to influence the game in the final third. His lack of attacking contribution continued to unbalance Arsenal’s forward play and contributed to Viktor Gyokeres receiving little service.
Arteta introduced Noni Madueke in Martinelli’s place to shake things up, but he too struggled. Madueke fared worse, failing to impact play completely, which left fans frustrated.
Most Gooners voiced their disappointment with the duo’s performance and would not mind seeing Arteta hand Leandro Trossard a start on the left against Leeds.
As Arteta and his technical bench deliberate over the left-wing conundrum, one option remains clear, go ahead and make that signing.
A left-wing swoop stood out as Arsenal’s top transfer priority this summer, with the Rodrygo links sending ripples towards the end of last season. That move failed to materialise, and interest in wingers cooled, but Paul Hirst insists Arsenal must reignite their pursuit and lays out how to do so.
Whether the Gunners heed his advice remains to be seen.
Let us know what you think in the comments.
Daniel O
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Instead we’re apparently giving Trossard a pay raise.. man turns 31 soon, so this raise will make him unsellable for the next 2 years.
If neither Martinelli nor Madueke were effective, was it due to the players or the tactics?
Will someone like Rodrygo or Eze fix the problem, or will their productivity dip on the LW as well.
As an armchair manager, I’m wondering if the left side tactics are the problem not the player. Seems cheaper to tweak tactics than spend 60 or 80 million on a player only to face the same LW problem.
@Durand
RealTalk 👍🏾
Spot on Durand.As far as Sunday,s game was concerned, i feel Saka was equally inept yet he seems to largely escape criticism?
Grandad,
Unfortunately it is true a lot of times, and it takes a series of bad performances before Saka is called out, and Rice seemed to escape a lot of criticism as well from the United game.
Frankly, the team was poor in general; Raya was POTM for a reason, and the defense was stingy enough in spite of all United’s attempts at scoring.
I’m chalking this flat performance to Arteta’s goal of getting 3 points at OT, and not so much on slick passing and performance that we saw with Ath Bilbao.
We have bad players in the LW period and martinelli especially is a shity player. So if you don’t see that obvious fact and that tactic has obsolutly nothing to do with the LW but the Lwingers we have, then your are not a manager at all , atleast not a football manager, u can try managing English classes/lessons, I notice most people’s comment here are always enriched with some good English expression but absolutely lacking content
Wow, then I guess we should just defer to your vast experience managing successfully, and I’m sure many besides myself are eager to see your trophy cabinet.
It’s an opinion site, and to think one opinion is more “valuable” than another is quite narcissistic; perhaps counterpoints would serve you better than belittling others, but again it is your opinion, so cheers.
It wasn’t the left wing that struggled but the entire team. If anything, our left side looked livelier with Calafiori and that is where the goal came from.
Yes we struggled against United but that had to do with three things. Firstly, we are adjusting to new tactics and this comes with teething issues. We had the right intentions but the execution wasn’t right. Our front three made the wrong runs and Odegaard made the wrong pass or mistimed the pass at times.These are things that improve with more training sessions and game time.
Secondly,we struggled physically.Rice, the engine of the team was physically off for some reason. Gyokeres looked off the pace as well and these physical limitations meant we could not press effectively which played into United’s game plan. This is something,again,that will improve with training and game time.
Finally, we also have to give credit to United. This is a hostile ground and they were up for it. Perhaps the whole occasion made some of our players nervous and they lost their composure. We couldn’t string five passes together and that is highly unusual for us.Hopefully the win brings more confidence and belief to the group and we build on from here. COYG!
I get the impression that the media are scabbling around trying to link players to Arsenal now. We’ve had Eze, Rodrygo, Lookman and, most recently, Gordon have come into the frame at one time or another. Who knows (other than Berta possibly) whether Arsenal will actually sign any of them in the time remaining.
I agree with your point about Utd. Arsenal (many fans here and probably the team on the day) underestimated them. They played well and Arsenal played poorly overall. However, we got the three points (thanks largely to Raya, I think) and that’s certainly something positive to build upon for the Leeds game on Saturday.
While, on paper, Leeds shouldn’t really present that tough a challenge, and while we should be confident, we can’t afford to be over-confident. I’m hoping for the win obviously, but also a (much) better team performance across the 90 minutes in the first home game of the new season.
The media waits for no man. Now that Kai has a knee problem, Vlahovic is already being floated. I believe most MU players weren’t in good form either. Even though he did cause some isolated difficulties, I don’t remember the last time I saw Mbeumo have so much opportunity and yet be so ineffective.
Well, I thought that they were much better than almost everyone (on this site anyway) gave them credit for beforehand which is presumably why there were so many “big” Arsenal wins predicted on JA.
I recall Raya being pretty busy – and the post intervening – over the course of the game. No Utd side had as many shots against Arsenal at Old Trafford in the EPL since the 2011 game there – and we all know what happened then.
Anyway, Arsenal got the points, albeit narrowly, so it’s EPL new (old) boys Leeds next.
Ohhh shiiiiiittttt…..!!!!???? Haverz just had a knee injury… That might change everything now… Have to wait for the scanning reports but doen´t look good at all…
Who would be a good acquisition now, if Haverz will be sidelined for several months? Someone who could fill in on the left and center as well?
Rodrygo? Lookman? Watkins? Who..?
I wish we have alexis sanchez now, I don’t know what arsenal problem is, we always seem to be one vital ingredient short. Unless madueke surprise me or jesus come back, we might just end up like last season even though we sign gyokeres
I’m also yet to see if zubimendi is partey oupgrade or even equall