NEW: A series of narrow wins has plenty of Arsenal fans nervy and it can feel like luck is being ridden. But maybe it's Arsenal's opponents who are lucky to be avoiding bigger defeats? likeanewsletter.substack.com/p/riding-you...

The Gomez goal was in the 64th minute. The Minteh shot in the 76th, the Wieffer header in the 77th. But the pressure from Brighton wasn’t sustained in that 13 minute window. They had maybe three minutes of front-footed control in that chunk. That’s it. That’s what they had for the *whole game*.

I know MLS had a couple of tough moments yesterday but in hindsight I think the performance was rather decent. He came in late/cold, had a part in Brighton creating nothing (their goal wasn’t on him and Minteh’s late shot was after he went off), made some nice plays too. Oh, and he’s 19.

rewatching the second half for a bit of perspective.

I think I have been posting this for the better of five years, or even longer - but the NBC Sports App is perhaps the worst, buggiest viewing experience there is. I have issues with it just about every time I open it. Relinking provider, forced restarts of the app, iPad restarts. It’s awful.

Uh, “many saw as”? The stuff that she did is IN THE SAME paragraph. The NYT is insane.

via @cartoonstevebould.bsky.social this is an excellent thread. The right perspective.

I agree strongly with this thread. The "trophy or bust/bottlers" talk is, at its root, made in bad faith by people who need to provoke. It's extremely difficult to avoid - and seized on gladly by fans of other teams who are even less hopeful than we are - but something we should strive to ignore.

Shouldn’t the question be “why aren’t they winning matches they dominate by more?”, not “can they keep winning them?”. This question is for Villa, City, by the numbers - not us.

Arsenal deservedly win games where they outplay the opposition & people say we’re “getting away with it” because the score was close. other teams win games where they play like shit for most of the game & they get celebrated Genuinely bizarre the way this sport is discussed

Today’s @arsenalvpodcast.bsky.social instant reaction is sort of great in an unhinged, chaotic way.

Best non-Arsenal Christmas gift out for a first spin.

Their manager was stuck in the stands as his team folded - because he can’t control himself. Where’s the media, and their fainting couch, about all of this?

Villa on their way to another 1-0 victory.

Marc Cucurella is a clown.

At some point the balls will go in the net at a higher rate. They kind of have to. Unless we have become bad at finishing. Which I suppose is a possibility, but it’s also a very remote one. Three points. Win the next one.

I guess they want us engaged until the very end.

I was wrong!

Who’s got “Brighton score on their first shot on target” on their bingo card?

Does Saka have a touch of the Cunhas right now, with his shooting?

They had nothing. We dominated. And we scored. Yet the only word I have for that half is “wasted”. We wasted a chance to have this game be done with at halftime. And now we are back in the bozo zone. Intensely frustrating to me.

Good work by Vik, very poor finish.

Look, when you can put key players through intense, risk-laden activity just a few days before a key league match for the chance at playing even MORE games, in the pursuit of a lesser trophy, you just have to.

When Villa fluke the numbers and win it annoys me because I have a petty grudge against their manager. When City win ceaselessly I get angry because they are a criminal enterprise who have faced no consequences. In fact, it’s the opposite of that. They’ve reaped every reward. Despicable club.

Hahaha no they aren’t you absolute dupes

That’s really nasty from Cunha.

Why is that a foul on Newcastle? That’s just weak from the keeper.

“Merry Christmas to all” is way too inclusive. It captures everyone on City, the Burnley supporters who boo Saka for getting kicked, and Marc Cucurella, and, well, you get the point. So, Merry Christmas to *most* of you. I hope most of you have a great day!

“Merry Christmas to all” is way too inclusive. It captures everyone on City, the Burnley supporters who boo Saka for getting kicked, and Marc Cucurella, and, well, you get the point. So, Merry Christmas to *most* of you. I hope most of you have a great day!

Betteridge’s Law of Headlines, 12/24/25 Edition

I’m not particularly worried about Nwaneri in terms of minutes and the implication of his not playing much relative to a generic career arc. Consternation about his playing time is because I am in a camp of people who would, due to his talent, like to see him a little bit more. Nothing else.

There will be no victory tonight.

I like how MLS has played so far.

So funny that Noni can put in on a postage stamp from 25 yards out but then tamely hits it right at the keeper from 15, straight on. I guess shooting is hard.

Tonight victory comes in the form of nobody getting hurt. End of.

don’t get Ethan not starting

I just saw a postgame video from NBC where our 1.8-0.2xG performance, on the road, against a decent team, where they said it “was not a good performance”. We get ripped for, what, not blowing Everton out? These guys can’t honestly assess what transpired. They can’t recognize nearly total control.

Bluesky seems to be having a Tommy Lee/Pam Anderson moment.

Just saw an ad for an investment product where the happy guy talking to brags about being able to retire from “working for money” at age 40, crediting whatever fund or other instrument this company is selling. Sure, it was the product that did it, and not whatever giant nut the guy had in hand.

Haha I see I’ve annoyed some Villa fans. Thing is, I am not going to be the annoyed one in a couple of months.

The problem for Villa is that they don’t play in a US league with playoffs where you can ride variance and good luck to a fluke win in a series (or even a small-sample title like a Super Bowl against a favorite). The duration of the season is their problem. They keep playing like this and bye bye.

Maybe man-mark the one guy who can beat you.

Villa play such a lame brand of football. I’m biased, for sure - but they have zero intent other than to fluke a chance. They are at home, against a weakened (and already weak) United, and yet they barely seem interested in much of anything positive.

This Villa-United game is the rare match where the football is terrible but yet it’s also not at all entertaining.

United’s bench is, uh, something.

Is it really the case that Barcelona can only be this dangerous on offense it they are also laughably vulnerable defensively? I cannot believe this is true, that they can’t become at least half-competent defending their own goal and still be gigantically threatening. It seems like negligence.

It already counts for nothing. Also, is this a link to a longer piece or is this the whole piece - because does this Ogden guy need to say anything else to get his (dumb) point across?

Presuming we heavily, heavily rotate for Palace on Tuesday we are another week closer to getting Kai and big Gabi back, with another league win in the bag. A good day.

Today the color guy said some things about how impressive our control of the game was. I think that’s instructive - an ostensible “neutral” was really praiseworthy of just how much we dominated the pitch, how little Everton could do. Take the emotion out and you see nerveless, strangling control.

First 20 mins were dodgy AF, a couple guys (looking at you, Zubi) desperately need two weeks on the beach, but that’s a hell of a win. Post-City result, against a team that has our number up there, after last week’s dreck. Everton hardly threatened and, were we more clinical, it’s over earlier.