As per previous post, what a TW Arsenal have had! I am glad we found a solution for the Koz situation and Jenkinson has wisely moved on to play regular football. I reckon there would have been plenty of game opportunity for Eddie at Arsenal but at Leeds he is likely to feature every week and that is just what he needs now. Funnily enough Eddie and Jenks may be playing each other in their first games for their clubs tomorrow when Forest play Leeds!!
I have no doubt that one or two players will still leave Arsenal before the various international TWs shut, especially Elneny and possibly Mustafi, Kolasinac and Mkhhi could still find another club. The net spend of the club is currently around £80m – £135m bought, £55m sold – and don’t be surprised if we end up with a figure around the £45m in the end…
Goodbye but not Farewell to Alex Iwobi
As elated as I am with the outcomes of the transfer window, I am still a bit sore about the loss of our very own Iwobi. This is what fellow BKers had to say about him:
Fellow Nigerian GoonerEris:
“Indeed, it’s a bit sad to find that a kid who has been with us for about 15 years now, since joining at the age of 7, had to make way while the likes of Mkhitaryan and Elneny stayed on. That’s the only dampener in what has been a fantastic window. But, I guess it had to do with money coming in and balancing the books, which Iwobi could guarantee with interest from Everton. I think Iwobi will be happy to go to a club where the scrutiny will be less and the fans less critical; where the demands are a modest top 6 finish, for now, in order to grow to that next phase of his development. I had hoped he could win the Europa league or the AFCON to get him into a mature frame of mind because he always looked to me like he hadn’t come to terms with the fact he is no longer in the academy. This move will serve him well and I do hope we have a buy-back clause of some sort or a good sell-on clause in that contract. He will have good company with Theo and Delph; I also expect him to enjoy playing with Moise Kean.”
The Prof from Down-Under:
“Iwobi? I liked him but never took the world by storm. He’s a mid table teams star, but not ours. One look is to say our ability to sell him at a profit is a sign of our ambition and ability to take the best. It also shows we can sell high, which we’ve not done well or at all this last decade. Of course, if he does turn into that star… 
… “
And the calm and balanced AB wrote:
“Hmmm. Mixed feelings about today. Selling Iwobi takes a lot of gloss off for me. I can’t fault the logic given we have bought in this area and the price is good. But we are losing a home grown quality talent. Someone direct, strong and with an excellent injury record. And he has yet to reach his peak.”
I reckon Iwobi will have looked at the likes of Jenkinson and Walcott and have realised that it is a gamble to wait and see whether you can break through at Arsenal. With the arrival of Pepe and the hard knocks on the door from young competitors like Saka and Nelson but also Martinelli and ESR, it may have been a wise thing to go to Everton and work with a manager who clearly believes in him. I like to see it as a long ‘loan’ to the Toffees and Iwobi becoming a quality first team player and real man there; and I would not be surprised at all to see him return to the Home of Football in 3-5 years. For me it is goodbye but certainly not farewell, and I will look forward to seeing him play at Goodison Park, where I was also lucky to witness his first PL goal a few years ago.
Best of Luck, Alex, Koz, Jenks, Eddie!
Season Predictions
Okay let’s do a quick and dirty predictions for the season (and please give us yours in the comment section):
Top Six:
- Man Citeh
- Spuds (hate it but…)
- Arsenal (but only if Emery gets the balance right in midfield)
- Pool
- Manure
- Wolves
Goals For and Against:
82 – 38
Top scorers:
- Pepe
- Auba
- Laca
- Ceballos
- Willock
Most man of the match (official):
- Lacazette
- Pepe
- Ozil
- Xhaka
- Luiz/Auba
Most key passes (per Whoscored):
- Ozil
- Pepe
- Ceballos
- Xhaka
- Luiz
Here are the BBC pundits predictions re top-four finishes…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49258004
By TotalArsenal
Bergkampesque 
Unai Emery is Arsenal’s coach and every single week he corporate with his own team to gain better place,he knows what to do to find what they need.
So when he tried his best to build this team,he then made some.
But he too made mistake to lose some of his youngstars such nigerian man ALEX IWOBI who can afford to find his destination at Arsenal and above all these no matter what he does,he knows everything that can take his way right.
Regarding Iwobi, I didn’t have as much emotion as Eris, AB or even Prof.
However, I wanted to say that Iwobi needs special guidance and better integration with his new team, as he was not on the same wavelength with most of the team, and shipping him out although might not be a bad idea, thinking back, he had received the same flack compared to Mustafi whenever we lost matches, and on his good days he worked hard and got the points for us.
It might not be totally appropriate to say that Iwobi is all bad and he could have worked harder, and at the end of the day he were our brightest spark on the pitch at times, his fitness, tactics and the team’s mentality let him down.
He can be a good team player for us with better tactics, and rather than Iwobi leaving I would have liked the team to ship out Mkhi. The board did well this time, but made a little mess in this.
However, the transfer window had closed for us to bring in one more midfielder, so I will see if the team replaces Mkhi in January.
TA, one of my comments got missing. Why is this happening?
I really hate to see Iwobi leave but he could have ended up straddling the bench at Arsenal, I’m glad he’s gone to Everton as some of my dearly departed friends were Everton supporters. One of them Ray Bowen played for Liverpool and Spurs the the late 40’s early 50’s and he was a good friend of the Everton Chairman (Bill Kenwright), he even travelled down to Wembley as his guest in the team train to watch Everton beat Man U – 1-0 in the 1995 Cup Fina.l
Gooneris:
DAZN has the exclusive rights to the CL, EPL and EL in Canada. I also use Bell for everything. Some of the latest TV’s have DAZN as an app – so you can register with no problem, but if the app is not on your set you will need to buy a “box” (mine is BeeLink) to stream it to your TV.
I really hate to see Iwobi leave but he could have ended up straddling the bench at Arsenal, I’m glad he’s gone to Everton as some of my dearly departed friends were Everton supporters. One of them Ray Bowen played for Liverpool and Spurs the the late 40’s early 50’s and he was a good friend of Bill Kenwright the Everton Chairman, he even traveled down to Wembley, as his guest in the team train to watch Everton beat Man U 1-0 in the 1995 FA Cup Final.
Gooneris:
DAZN has the exclusive rights to the CL, EPL and EL in Canada. I also use Bell for everything. Some of the latest TV’s have DAZN as an app so you can register with no problem, but if the app is not on your set you will need to buy a “box” (mine is BeeLink) to stream it to your TV.
TA, very interesting post. 👍👍 for all the regards to the departing.
Would have preferred a loan spell for Iwobi. There’s big talent in there but just like Erie hinted, I believe he’s slow to mature psychologically. But I do understand his sale. The books must have to be balanced. After all I have alwsys insisted that if the price is good enough I’d sell. Well well buy well is my philosophy. Meanwhile Everton have become my darling teen after my team.
Eris, I like hour “post”. More grease to your elbow.😬😬
Oops the first comment went into hiding so I sent the second one?
“Sell well buy well is my philosophy”.
Hi all..
I hate to see St. Toteringham wasn’t coming in this last 2 years..
With this great TW and some injured player returned, We must stop that.
Last season we were so unlucky to finished fifth.. We should had been in third.. hehehe..
TA for the answers..
1. Liverpool, Arsenal, City, MU, Spurs, Everton
2. Goals are so hard to predict.. but with our new bomber.. I think we will have a lots.. 90:40
3. Top scorer will be Auba, Pepe, Laca, Ozil, Tierney
4. MoTM will be the same I think, Auba, Pepe and Laca, Ozil and Tierney
5. Key Passes will be Pepe, Ozil, Auba, Laca and Niles.
Alex Iwobi was a fave of mine. Great attitude, high-energy, wore the shirt and played for the badge– with honor. Would have loved to see him come good here at the club he grew up at.
All that said– he needs to be a full-time player to have the chance to grow. To realize his potential.
While the situation is similar– I don’t see Iwobi as I do another Alex– AOC. I’d be pleased to see Iwobi come good. Not so much Ox.
Fare thee well Alex. Except when…
jw1
1 man c pool arsenal spurs utd
2 85 35
3 auba lacca pepe martinelli nelson
4 auba lacca pepe ozil ceballos
5 ozil pepe ceballos luiz auba
Alex Iwobi
Season – Apps – Goals
2015-16 – 21 – 2
2016-17 – 38 – 4
2017-18 – 39 – 3
2018-19 – 51 – 6
Predictions at this stage of the season is a total guessing game – so I prefer to hope that we get into the top 4 and play some outstanding football.
From Arsenal.com
Here’s the latest update from our medical team ahead of our match at St James’ Park:
Alex Lacazette
Right ankle. Will continue to be assessed ahead of Sunday’s match at Newcastle.
Nicolas Pepe
Regaining full match fitness following late return from African Cup of Nations. Decision to be made on participation for Sunday.
Hector Bellerin
Left knee. Continuing with on-field rehabilitation. Aiming to participate in full training in October.
Rob Holding
Left knee. Continuing with on-field rehabilitation and now participating in full training with the first team.
Dinos Mavropanos
Groin. Continues to receive treatment and further assessment. Will be out of action for at least 6-8 weeks.
Emile Smith Rowe
Groin. Progressing well in training and aiming to re-join the first team squad in 1-2 weeks
Mohamed Elneny
Regaining full match fitness following late return from African Cup of Nations. Decision to be made on participation for Sunday.
Copyright 2019 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source.
David Luiz
Expected to participate in full training ahead of Sunday.
Kieran Tierney
Groin. Will continue to receive treatment and assessments. Hoping to integrate into full training in 4-6 weeks
Copyright 2019 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source.
Press conference
An Arsenal statement declared: “Mesut Ozil and Sead Kolasinac will not be part of the squad for our opening match against Newcastle United following further security incidents which are being investigated by the police.
“The welfare of our players and their families is always a top priority and we have taken this decision following discussion with the players and their representatives.
“We are liaising with the police and are providing the players and their families with ongoing support.
The duo, close friends, will not play at Newcastle on Sunday (Image: PA)
“We look forward to welcoming the players back to the squad as son as possible.
“We will not be making any further comment on the matter.”
Thanks for the heads up, GunnerN5. I’m sure my TV will have the App, otherwise, it will be a box for me then.
PE, cheers. Reading that back and how TA has beautifully collated those thoughts, I had to say that pretty much covered all my thoughts about Iwobi’s departure. Glad TA sees things my way regarding the potential for a return, or at least, the lad turning to a real football man at another club. That boy’s strength on the ball is impressive; he just needs to learn to stay calm in the final 3rd and he could be involved in about 20 goals (plus assists) at his new club with Moise Kean as a prolific beneficiary of his passes. One thing we’ve missed is the fact he had the most “chances created” (40) at Arsenal last season, with Ozil coming 2nd (36).
Wish all our departing players the best (except when they play us 🤪).
Love this post, TA and now understand why it had to come up so soon after.
I will only hazard a guess for top 6, top scorers, most man of the match and key passes.
1. City, Liverpool, Arsenal, United.
2. Auba, Pepe, Laca, Ozil.
3. Laca, Pepe, Auba, Leno
4. Pepe, Ozil, Laca, Xhaka/Ceballos.
I hope you keep these predictions saved, for the fun of it, so we can look back at them some time in May. 😂😂
GunnerN5, appreciate the medical/fitness update from the site. The case of Ozil and Kolasinac (especially) May put some pressure on the team going away, first game. So, we can only rely on Monreal at left back or left wing back, should we play 3 (Sok, Chambers, Luiz) at the back.
Something tells me Emery will be just happy to get the opportunity (as we all would) to see Ceballos in action.
Oh, and Chelsea will be a wild card for the top 3, if their transfer ban is lifted in the January window.
Fine comments guys and thanks to those who have participated in the season’s predictions which is of course just a little fun to which, Eris, we will return at the end of the season.
Cheers GN5 for the fitness update… don’t like what is happening to Ozil and Kola… time for the police to sort things out, it seems..
Eris, I thought the ban is till the end of January, so nobody can be bought till the summer…
My SWAGS for the 2019/20 season.
League positions
1. Man C
2. Liverpool
3. Spurs
4. Arsenal.
Highest goal scorers.
1. Aubameyang
2. Lacazette
3. Pepe
4.Somebody from the mid-field?
Predictions:
1.City, 2.Spurs, 3.Liverpool, 4.Man Utd, 5.Arsenal, 6.Chelsea.
Scorers: Aubameyang, Pepe and Lacazette.
TA, well if the ban is till end of January, I wonder why some are speculating they will be able to pick up Zaha in the winter window.
Also interesting to see that most of the BBC pundits think we will finish in 4th. Admir doesn’t share their views, it would seem.
Liverpool up 3-0 vs Norwich, before the 30th minute. Origi just made it 4. And it’s not because the away side haven’t had their chances.
My predictions.
Champions: Arsenal
The rest I don’t care about
Goalscoreres: PEA, Laca, Pepe, Luiz
Most MotM: The new Spanish bloke in midfield
Most key passes: Xhaka
Cheers Admir! Let’s hope you are wrong, very wrong!! 😀
Please don’t quote me on it, but when it says till the end of January, I can only take from it that they will have to wait till next summer…
That is the spirit, EtR, and welcome.
The poor Canaries… 4-0 down and looking so porous at the back. Having said that, despite the score, Pool have not impressed me much, especially at the back…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47329293
For you, Eris…
Thanks, TA. I guess they hope to succeed with the appeal.
Hi Erik, I hope we have a good season and see lots of quality football.
Got to dash I’m cooking supper – nice and easy – Turkey meatball sandwiches with some pasta on the side – plus some red liquid to wash it all down.
Sunday can’t come quick enough.
You’ve done a great job with this site over the summer TA. Some quick comments in haste: top 4 are city, pool The Arsenal, spuds. I don’t think chavs and manure look in shape to compete from here. And I think spuds may have peaked last year – they’ve over performed with that squad in all honesty; which is a great credit to Poch. But I don’t think they can keep that intensity in a small squad that never wins anything. Pool will believe they can win the league and it will be very tough to get past the top two. Arsenal, well a wild guess there in truth. We’ve a good squad. Can Emery get something out of it? Dunno, but I’m hopeful of some progress.
TA
You’re too damn fast with these posts, but thanks for the shout out!
Iwobi: Great deal all around, even with emotion:
A. Arsenal: like a young man leaving home it’s sad, but also happy. The price shows he’s going to succeed in the world. We can be proud of that and him. If he’d stayed at home he’d never have gotten the chances he’ll have on his own. So, even with emotion…
B. Iwobi: this is his big chance. He’ll be centre stage and a focus. Something he’d never get at Arsenal or similar.
C. Everton: they are getting a high quality player
Everyone wins here, imo. Like a son leaving home, I’m anxious to see how Iwobi does, and hope he does very well. He’s “our boy” after all.
Predictions:
A. Top 4 = City, Pool, Arsenal/Spurs (tie), Chelsea, United. … weak, I know. My BIG call? The gap from Arsenal/Spurs to Chelsea and Ute will be 6+ points…
I’m not fussed on the rest, but want to see GA < 1 per game so 35 sounds good, and 30 even better. 🙂
Where to watch: I’ll be buying a package or hoping to go late with Arsenal Player…
Cheers — jgc
On another note:
“Jose Mourinho joins Sky Sports Premier League line-up.”
Last stop– to obscurity.
jw1
Cheers AB and JW for last night comments and predictions. I would not have posted the latest one if it was not for the fact that Iwobi had left and this needed a bit of attention before we issue GN5 preview. 🙂
It will still be a double salary for the grey fox, JW1!
New Post New Post 🙂