THE ARSENAL OPINION - BY LE GROVE

Jacob is joined by Tim Stillman — of Arsenal Vision and Arseblog fame, and the most thorough writer covering the Arsenal women's team — for a Dugout that goes deep on the season just gone and the summer ahead.

Here's what's inside:

🔥 Hottest of Takes — Tim opens with a claim that will provoke debate: Myles Lewis-Skelly starts in central midfield next season. Permanently. And Zubimendi quietly finds himself in a Jorginho role. Jacob asks whether we might be watching a repeat of Ben White at right back — accidental permanence

💸 The Transfer Market Is Broken — Jacob's hot take: there are no players worth a hundred million pounds, which means every player costs a hundred million pounds. Tim has a lot of sympathy for what Berta is trying to do this summer and explains why in a way that makes you feel slightly better about everything

⚽ Gyökeres — The Honest Assessment — Tim fell on Pete's side. And then Gyökeres just quietly got on with it. No side changing the outcome of the argument, but undeniably no title without him. Where does he fit next year?

🌟 Max Dowman — The Fabregas Comparison — Tim goes there. Carefully. Jacob talks about a World Cup preseason and what happened to a certain Spanish teenager in the summer of 2004

🔴 What Does Arsenal Actually Need This Summer? — the left wing spot, the striker question, and why Tim thinks Arteta might have to sacrifice one of his principles to find the attacker that changes everything

🌱 Calafiori — Keep Him — Tim's horse-without-a-jockey analogy will become the definitive description of watching Calafiori run at full pelt down the right wing having started at left back. The lads agree: don't sell this man

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Pete and Matt. Post-season, pre-window. The football's gone and they don't know what to do with themselves — except talk about transfers. Which is exactly what they do.

Here's what's inside:

🔥 Hottest of Takes — Matt makes the case for selling Ethan Nwaneri this summer and using him to fund the hot boy window. Pete's take is that we do one more year with Gyökeres — but he's getting relegated to third choice striker next season

😤 Arsenal Derangement Syndrome — The Telegraph. The Athletic's alternate table. Paul Scholes picking Man United to win the league. Pete and Matt go through every piece of nonsense still being thrown at the champions and explain why they actually want it to continue

😬 Saliba's Back Injury — the most worrying piece of news to emerge from the final. Pete and Matt try not to catastrophise and settle on a silver lining involving Mosquera

🌟 Calafiori — Don't You Dare Sell Him — Juventus and Roma are sniffing. Matt and Pete make the case for keeping a total unicorn. Arteta used the phrase "individual action" after the final. They both think they know who he means

🕵️ The Southampton Spying Scandal — Tonda Ecker caught cheating, keeps his job, delivers an 8-minute-43-second apology that makes things considerably worse. Pete and Matt on what it does to a dressing room when the gaffer gets caught

📺 16.2 Million Illegal Streams — Keir Starmer asked TNT to make the final free to air. TNT said no. Pete and Matt have a lot of feelings about how football fans get treated

Subscribe at patreon.com/theArsenalOpinion for ad-free episodes and support the show. And for the best Arsenal writing on the internet, sign up to the newsletter at le-grove.co.uk.

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Johnny's at the parade, voice destroyed, heart full. Pete's at home, processing. Arsenal are Premier League champions. They were Champions League finalists. And there is a lot to say.

Here's what's inside:

🔥 Hottest of Takes — Johnny holds two things at once: enormous pride in what this team achieved, and real hunger for what comes next. Pete's take cuts straight to the summer — the attack needs addressing, and he's not being gentle about it

💔 The Champions League Final — Honest Debrief — Kai's goal was a worldie. Mosquera was brave. The penalty decisions were shocking. Johnny goes through what he liked, what he didn't, and is honest about the moments that cost us

🟥 The Referee — Pete and Johnny have a lot of feelings. The Noni penalty. The corner at the end of the first half. The yellow for Saka. Johnny chooses his words very carefully. Pete does not

💸 The Summer Window — Kruppi, Morgan Rogers, Alex Isak, and a Bellingham question that has Johnny very excited. Why Premier League-proven players are the only names Pete wants to hear this summer

😤 Everybody Hates Arsenal — Chelsea's trophy post. Nottingham Forest. Jed Spence. Johnny and Pete on why rival clubs need to have a serious word with themselves

🚀 This Feels Like The Beginning — 2006 felt like the end of an era. This feels like the start of one. Declan Rice after the game said we'll be back. Pete and Johnny believe him

Subscribe at patreon.com/theArsenalOpinion for ad-free episodes and support the show. And for the best Arsenal writing on the internet, sign up to the newsletter at le-grove.co.uk.

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Pete and Jacob. 48 hours to Budapest. Jacob's hotel canceled on him. He needs this. Two lads trying not to lose their minds before the biggest game of their lives.

Here's what's inside:

🔥 Hottest of Takes — Jacob goes full conviction on the team sheet. Pete's take is about a game plan that will shock everyone expecting Arsenal to sit deep

📊 Are We Sleeping On Noni? — gradient data that will make you reconsider. Where Madüeke ranks in the Champions League for on-ball attacking is genuinely surprising

💸 The Summer Window Opens Early — Rogers, Alvarez, Kruppi, Barcola, Jesus, Martinelli, Ethan to Chelsea. Pete and Jacob go through every name with data

🤔 Alvarez vs Kruppi — Pete puts Jacob on the spot. Proven Premier League winner or elite 19-year-old with frightening shooting numbers? Jacob makes his call

😬 Ethan Nwaneri — the Marseille loan has quietly told Arteta everything he needed to know. Jacob thinks it's over

Subscribe at patreon.com/theArsenalOpinion for ad-free episodes and support the show. And for the best Arsenal writing on the internet, sign up to the newsletter at le-grove.co.uk.

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Pete and Matt are back, forty-eight hours from Budapest, and the excitement is barely containable. Matt flies out tomorrow night. Pete's holding the fort. This is the last one before the biggest game of most Arsenal fans' lives.

Here's what's inside:

🔥 Hottest of Takes — Matt's is a love letter to the support cast of every Arsenal fan's life: the partners, the kids, the friends who've had to share them with a football club for 22 years. Pete's take is about Arteta's dream of unpredictability — and why this might finally be the game where he can fully unleash it

🏆 Declan Rice Was Aura Farming — he's addressed it. Pete and Matt on the greatest psychological operation in recent Champions League history

🎯 The Tactical Puzzle — Who Starts Where? — the right back question, the Timber gamble, Calafiori vs Hincapié at left back, Eze on the wing, Kai as the nine. Pete maps out two games within a game: the first sixty and the impact players who win it in the last thirty

😬 Pete's Biggest Fear — Arteta galaxy-brains the final. Pep's done it. Could Mikel? Matt has thoughts on whether he's that kind of manager. The Zubimendi at right back conversation is happening

💸 Morgan Rogers — The Summer Dream — £80 million, Aston Villa, Noni Madüeke liking a suspicious Instagram post. Pete and Matt are both in. There's one significant obstacle standing in the way and it's called Don Unai

⚠️ Zubimendi — Should We Be Worried? — Pete has been saying it for weeks. A Hand of Arsenal tweet drops today that has him raising an eyebrow. Matt is starting to come round

🤩 Myles Lewis-Skelly — From Mansfield to the Final — Pete cannot believe this is the same player. The Instagram post. The caption. Pure profit. The lads are in love

Subscribe at patreon.com/theArsenalOpinion for ad-free episodes and support the show. And for the best Arsenal writing on the internet, sign up to the newsletter at le-grove.co.uk.

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