Arsenal come back from the longest break of their season second in the table and short of goals. Leeds United arrive at the Emirates on Saturday unbeaten, and the champions still cannot say where the next one is coming from.
The last competitive football Arsenal played was on 19 September, and it was awful. Brighton and Hove Albion pressed them man for man, watched them panic and won 3-0.
Pascal Gross curled in from distance after half an hour. Charalampos Kostoulas struck fifteen seconds after Bukayo Saka had been denied at the other end. Chema Andres headed in a Gross corner nine minutes after the break. Mikel Arteta said his side did not respect the game and were extremely poor technically. Then the international calendar swallowed three weeks whole.
The table says the damage was contained. Arsenal are second on twelve points from five, three behind Manchester City, who have won all five. Four goals conceded is championship-grade. The problem is at the other end. Eight scored is the lowest in the top seven and exactly half of Brighton's sixteen.
It is not hard to see why. Gabriel Martinelli went to Al Hilal for a club-record sixty million pounds in August, Leandro Trossard to Besiktas, Gabriel Jesus to Barcelona. Christos Tzolis, bought from Club Brugge for thirty-four million as Trossard's replacement, is out with a hamstring strain. Kai Havertz pulled a hamstring for Germany and is a doubt. Noni Madueke has drifted so far out of the picture that Atletico Madrid and Juventus are watching. And Viktor Gyokeres, the centre-forward, has five Arsenal appearances and no goals.
We have to make sure we learn the lesson because this can’t happen again.
Mikel Arteta, after Brighton
What Arsenal do have is the thing that won them the league. Nicolas Jover's routines produced a Premier League record from corners last season, and the league responded over the summer with fresh instruction to referees to clamp down on holding and wrestling in the box at set-pieces. Five games in, the champions' first-choice route to goal is being refereed differently and their open-play alternative has been sold. That is why January already feels load-bearing.
Saturday is harder than the names suggest. Leeds United are fifth and unbeaten, two wins and three draws, with three goals conceded in five matches. Only Brighton have a better defensive record. They are the opposite of the fixture Arsenal need: a low block with a tidy structure, against a side with no left winger and a striker without a goal. Arteta's questions are not about shape. They are about who plays in front of Gyokeres, and whether Eberechi Eze or Dowman is trusted to unpick an organised defence.
Behind that, the defence is a jigsaw. William Saliba has not played since July, when he came off in the first half of France's World Cup semi-final against Spain with a back problem he had carried for weeks. L'Equipe report he is targeting November. Ezri Konsa, the fifty-one million pound answer to that absence, was released by England with a quad complaint after ninety minutes against both Spain and Croatia. Gabriel Magalhaes and Piero Hincapie can cover, but a 12:30 kick-off on the first weekend back is exactly when a patched back four gets found out.
Key Facts: Arsenal v Leeds United
When Saturday 10 October, 12:30 in London. 4:30 a.m. Pacific. Emirates Stadium, matchweek six.
FormArsenal second, 12 points from 5 (W4 L1). Leeds United fifth, 9 from 5 (W2 D3), unbeaten.
GoalsArsenal have scored 8 league goals, fewest in the top seven. Leeds United have conceded 3, second fewest in the division.
Gap 21 days since Arsenal's last match, the longest break of their season.
Arsenal's league season: 3-0 Coventry City, 1-0 at Aston Villa, 2-1 Chelsea, 2-0 Sunderland, 0-3 at Brighton. They also beat Manchester City 3-0 in the Community Shield, won 1-0 at Napoli and knocked out Ipswich Town 4-2 in the Carabao Cup.
Viktor Gyokeres spent the break rewriting the Nations League record book. He returns to a club where he has not scored all season.
Earlier this week in Bucharest he scored the only goal of a 1-0 win over Romania, pouncing on the rebound after Sebastian Nanasi's shot came off the post. It was his seventh consecutive Nations League match with a goal, a competition record, past Aleksandar Mitrovic and Benjamin Sesko, and his twenty-fifth for Sweden, moving him ahead of Marcus Berg. He had scored against Bosnia and Herzegovina on 3 October too.
Two columns tell the story: for Sweden four appearances and four goals, for Arsenal five appearances and none. Sofascore rated him 6.5 against Manchester City, 6.4 against Chelsea, 6.6 at Napoli, 6.2 at Ipswich Town, 6.5 at Brighton. The uncomfortable reading is that this is a supply problem rather than a finishing one: Arsenal, with Martinelli and Trossard sold and Saka carrying the width almost alone, give him possession and few crosses worth attacking.
Transfer News
The winger hunt is already on, and Leipzig is where it starts
Arsenal did not sign a left-sided attacker in the summer. Five games into a title defence, the January search has a name attached to it.
David Ornstein set the frame before the season began. Asked in a Q and A for The Athletic whether Arsenal would sign an attacker in January, he said: I could see something happening because they wanted to, I thought they needed to, in the summer and they didn't. He noted the club has money but operates close to UEFA's financial limits. Summer pursuits of Vinicius Junior, Julian Alvarez and Morgan Rogers all came to nothing.
On Tuesday a name arrived. CaughtOffside's Ahad Shaukat reported, citing sources close to the agents industry, that Antonio Nusa of RB Leipzig is now Arsenal's top January target, with Andrea Berta preparing a fresh approach after the club looked at him in the summer and moved on.
Nusa is twenty-one, a Norway international, and exactly the profile Arsenal no longer have: a left-sided dribbler who can beat a man. Ole Werner, his coach at Leipzig, has said of him: He is a player who will be world class in the near future.
Mind the certainty tier: a single-sourced report of concrete interest, not advanced talks, with no fee attached and no Leipzig-side corroboration in the German media yet, which is usually where a deal like this surfaces first. What makes it worth reporting is that it fits Arsenal's stated need. The alternative on the same list, Kenan Yildiz of Juventus at around eighty-five million pounds, is a January fantasy rather than a January plan.
Madueke is drifting, and Europe has noticed
One goal, a shrinking role and two Champions League clubs watching.
Noni Madueke is in the Arsenal Champions League squad and barely in the team. He has one goal and a role that has contracted as Arteta has leaned on Saka and Eze, and Sports Mole reported this week that Atletico Madrid and Juventus are both monitoring him ahead of January, with Arsenal braced for bids.
Twelve clubs, one sixteen-year-old, and a decision Arteta keeps deferring
Max Dowman scored twice at Ipswich Town, was called up by England and sent off by England under-19s inside three weeks.
Dowman scored twice in the 4-2 Carabao Cup win at Ipswich Town, is the highest-rated player in the under-21 side and already has two senior goals, more than Gyokeres. Reporting in late September put loan enquiries into double figures, more than twelve approaches, with Arteta publicly open-minded about letting him go for regular minutes.
He assisted and was then sent off for England under-19s against the United States on Friday, then withdrew with an impact injury, having been named in Thomas Tuchel's senior England group before being released alongside Konsa.
Ins and Outs: the 2026 window, in full
INBruno Guimaraes, Newcastle United, 75m, 8 August. Ezri Konsa, Aston Villa, 51m rising to about 55m, 21 August. Piero Hincapie, Bayer Leverkusen, 34.5m, loan clause activated, 1 July. Christos Tzolis, Club Brugge, 34m, 23 July. Illan Meslier, Leeds United, free, 9 July.
OUTGabriel Martinelli, Al Hilal, 60m, a club-record sale, 30 August. Leandro Trossard, Besiktas, 15.3m rising to 17m. Jakub Kiwior, Porto, 14.7m plus 4.2m. Gabriel Jesus, Barcelona, 8.6m plus 3.9m. Fabio Vieira, Hamburg, 8.6m. Christian Norgaard, Everton, 7m. Karl Hein, Werder Bremen, 2.6m. Reiss Nelson, Feyenoord, free.
LOANEthan Nwaneri to Borussia Dortmund, season-long, no permanent clauses. Tommy Setford to Stevenage. Ismeal Kabia to St Mirren.
Figures in pounds sterling as reported, compiled from TeamTalk and Sky Sports. Where outlets differ the better-corroborated figure is used: Martinelli's fee was reported at between 56m and 60m, with Sky Sports and ESPN both settling on 60m.
The Rumour Mill
Everything else simmering this week, with the certainty labelled. Most of it is early-stage gossip.
Gilberto Mora, Club Tijuana.Arsenal have made contact over the teenage Mexico international, with a figure around nineteen million pounds discussed and a release clause reported at 18.7 million. Liverpool and Real Madrid are also circling. Stage: concrete interest, no bid lodged.
Endrick, Real Madrid.Real Madrid are reported to have made their position clear amid Arsenal interest ahead of January. Single-sourced, no talks. Stage: link only.
And the one to watch.Arsenal need a left-sided attacker, have an out-of-favour right-sided one, and are reportedly near their UEFA financial ceiling. A sale funding a purchase is the only version of January that fits all three. If Madueke's situation hardens into a bid, expect the Nusa story to accelerate.
The Squad
A back four held together, and a manager committing to five more years
The break cost Arsenal two forwards and returned four fit players. Meanwhile Arteta and his entire coaching staff are being tied to 2030.
Arsenal lost Christos Tzolis to a hamstring strain inside twenty minutes of Greece's 2-2 draw with the Netherlands, reported at two to three weeks, which takes out Saturday, Lille and probably Nottingham Forest. They lost Kai Havertz to a hamstring problem in the 1-1 draw between the Netherlands and Germany, Jurgen Klopp's first game in charge of the Germans, with the German federation calling it a muscle strain and Klopp hoping he would be relatively quickly available again.
They also nearly lost the centre-back they bought to fix a centre-back problem. Ezri Konsa played ninety minutes against Spain and ninety against Croatia carrying a quad complaint and was sent home before Tuesday's game with Czechia. Thomas Tuchel put it plainly: He played versus Spain, which made it worse. He tried everything for Croatia and gave the green light. He got another hit on the quad, and it caused some light trauma.
Against that, four returns: Ben White (groin), Piero Hincapie (muscular), Cristhian Mosquera (hamstring, out since late August) and Declan Rice, held out of the England squad and rested in Dubai.
Selection: the shape of a thin attack
If Havertz does not make it, the options for a 12:30 kick-off against the division's second-best defence are Gyokeres through the middle, Saka right, Eberechi Eze and Martin Odegaard in the creative positions, and a choice on the left between Noni Madueke, out of the picture, and Max Dowman, sixteen and coming off a red card and a knock. Mikel Merino is the hybrid who gives height in the box.
Set-pieces, and the contracts that follow
Arsenal's dead-ball operation was the biggest competitive advantage in English football last season, producing a Premier League record from corners. Over the summer the league instructed officials to take a stricter line on holding and wrestling in the penalty area at set-pieces.
Which makes the contract news interesting. Nicolas Jover is in talks over a new deal, and Daily Cannon reported on Tuesday that Andrea Berta is leading the negotiation personally. Arsenal's staff and players remain very much aligned on the value of set-pieces, and the club are willing to recognise that with a good contract, the report said.
Above him, Mikel Arteta has agreed a four-year contract expected to run to June 2030, first reported by Sami Mokbel for the BBC in late September and corroborated by ESPN and the Irish Times, with Fabrizio Romano adding it carries a rise on his existing salary of around ten million pounds a year plus bonuses. The agreement remains verbal and formally unannounced. The Athletic reported the whole coaching staff will sign for the same four years: Albert Stuivenberg, Jover, Inaki Cana, Miguel Molina and, on enhanced terms, Gabriel Heinze.
Availability: Arsenal v Leeds United
OUTWilliam Saliba, back, out since France's World Cup semi-final on 14 July. No surgery. Running on grass, targeting November. Christos Tzolis, hamstring, two to three weeks.
DOUBTKai Havertz, hamstring, scanned on return from Germany, weeks rather than months. Ezri Konsa, quad, released by England, further testing this week.
FITDeclan Rice, Ben White (groin), Piero Hincapie (muscular), Cristhian Mosquera (hamstring).
WATCHMax Dowman, impact injury on under-19 duty. Martin Odegaard took a heavy kick to the ankle from Bernardo Silva in Porto and appears fine.
Compiled from Arseblog News and the latest pre-Leeds round-up.
Hale End
A Golden Boy nomination, a red card and an under-21 side with no wins
The academy is producing senior internationals faster than it is producing results.
Myles Lewis-Skelly has been named on the twenty-five-man shortlist for the 2026 Golden Boy award, for the best under-21 player in Europe, alongside seven other Premier League players. He started for England against Czechia at Wembley on Tuesday night with Saka on the bench.
Max Dowman compressed a career arc into three weeks: two goals in the 4-2 Carabao Cup win at Ipswich Town, a call-up to Tuchel's senior England squad, an assist and then a red card for the under-19s against the United States, and a withdrawal with a knock. He is sixteen and has already scored more senior goals this season than the club's centre-forward.
The under-21s and under-18s
David Horseman's under-21s sit twenty-third in Premier League 2 with three points from four, no wins, three draws and one defeat. The draws came against Crystal Palace, Brighton and Birmingham City, the loss was 1-4 at Chelsea, and the one recent win was 2-1 against Leyton Orient in the EFL Trophy. James Scanlon leads the scoring with two. They host Sunderland on Saturday.
One level down, Jack Wilshere's under-18s are fifth in the southern group with ten points from six, having won three in a row: 1-0 against Southampton, 2-0 against Crystal Palace, 5-1 against Norwich City. Emerson Nwaneri leads with three goals.
Youth internationals
Ceadach O'Neill made his fourth senior appearance for Northern Ireland off the bench in a 3-0 win over Ukraine on 2 October. James Scanlon scored Gibraltar's equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Malta on 1 October, a solo goal taking him to six in twenty-seven senior caps at twenty.
Andre Harriman-Annous, eighteen, was called into the England under-20 squad as a replacement for the injured Jimmy-Jay Morgan and made his debut off the bench in a 2-1 win over France. Converted from left wing to central striker at youth level, he is a candidate for a January loan. Goalkeeper Khari Ranson also received an under-20 call.
Loan Watch
Ethan NwaneriBorussia Dortmund, season-long, no permanent clauses. In a quirk of the draw, Dortmund visit the Emirates in the Champions League on 24 November.
Tommy SetfordStevenage, goalkeeper. Ismeal Kabia joined St Mirren in August and has made his Scottish Premiership debut.
The names most likely to be added in January are Dowman, with more than twelve clubs already enquiring, and Harriman-Annous.
Academy positions and scorers via FotMob.
Arsenal Women
Tenth, four goals in five, and a manager insisting she still has the board
Arsenal have surrendered leads in three of their last four matches. The expected-goals numbers say the problem starts the moment Renee Slegers makes a substitution.
This is the second-worst start to a Women's Super League season in Arsenal's history. They are not being outplayed. They are being out-finished and out-lasted. One win in five, two draws, two defeats, five points, four goals scored and six conceded, tenth in a fourteen-team league. Manchester City lead on fifteen.
Sunday at the Etihad was the clearest version yet. Lisa Baum put Arsenal ahead on forty-three. Lauren Hemp equalised in first-half stoppage time. Alessia Russo curled Arsenal back in front five minutes after the break. Then Kika Casparaji levelled on sixty-three, Hemp scored again on seventy-two and Georgia Shaw added a fourth on eighty-four. Manchester City 4-2 Arsenal, from a position of control, for the second time in a week.
The first time was in Paris. Arsenal led Paris FC 2-0 in the Champions League on 30 September and drew 2-2, with Leah Williamson conceding a penalty. Slegers did not attend the post-match press conference, later explaining that it was important to spend time with the players after the game.
They get immediate effect when they make their changes. We haven’t had the same effect as last season.
Renee Slegers, after Manchester City
Tim Stillman's analysis for Arseblog put numbers on it. Against Paris FC, Arsenal were 2-0 up having generated 1.3 expected goals; over the following forty minutes of substitutions that rose only to 1.7, and they conceded twice in the final eighteen minutes. Against HB Koge the xG line totally flatlined between the 65th and 85th minutes. The full piece is worth reading.
Stillman's diagnosis is a squad-profile problem. Geraldine Reuteler, signed from Eintracht Frankfurt after a year of pursuit, has barely been used. Selina Cerci has four appearances totalling fifty-nine minutes. Mariona Caldentey is played wide, which fields four midfielders and leaves Arsenal with nobody to stretch a low block.
Some of this is the cost of the most aggressive overhaul in the club's modern history. Seven players arrived and thirteen left. In came Georgia Stanway from Bayern Munich, Ona Batlle from Barcelona, Misa Rodriguez from Real Madrid, Lisa Baum from RB Leipzig, Isabella Damm from Brondby, plus Reuteler and Cerci.
Out went Beth Mead to Manchester City after nine years, Katie McCabe to Chelsea, Victoria Pelova to Tottenham Hotspur, Laia Codina to West Ham United and Manuela Zinsberger to Borussia Dortmund. That is a rebuild, not a refresh.
Slegers was unambiguous about her position on Sunday. She told reporters there is a strong togetherness and I've really felt [the board's] support, naming Clare Wheatley, Richard Garlick, James King and Jodie Taylor, and added: I believe in the potential that we possess. She is the manager who won the Champions League in 2025 after taking over as interim. She has earned time.
Europe is salvageable. A 1-0 win over HB Koge and the 2-2 in Paris leaves Arsenal unbeaten in the league phase, with Benfica at home on 28 October, Barcelona away on 11 November, OL Lyonnes at home on 19 November and Inter away in December. The WSL is the harder repair job, starting with Birmingham City on 17 October.
Women's Super League after five matches
Team
GD
Pts
1. Manchester City
+10
15
2. Chelsea
+11
13
3. London City Lionesses
+10
12
4. Tottenham Hotspur
+8
10
5. Everton
0
9
9. Brighton
+1
5
10. Arsenal
-2
5
Results so far: 1-0 at Brighton, 0-0 Crystal Palace, 1-1 Manchester United, 1-0 HB Koge, 0-1 at Chelsea, 2-2 at Paris FC, 2-4 at Manchester City. Table via Sky Sports.
Off the Pitch
Arsenal will not be building a bigger stadium
After months of speculation about 80,000 seats and a temporary move to Wembley, the club has chosen renovation over reconstruction. Arteta was one of the voices against.
Arsenal have ruled out a major expansion of Emirates Stadium. The decision was communicated at an Arsenal Advisory Board meeting, where co-chair Josh Kroenke and chief executive Richard Garlick said the club had shared a commitment to continued evolution of Emirates Stadium, rather than a huge scale masterplan. Arseblog News reported the detail and the decision was confirmed elsewhere the same week.
The option on the table was a rebuild taking capacity to around eighty thousand, which would have required Arsenal to play home matches at Wembley during construction. Mikel Arteta opposed that, concerned about severing the connection between team and supporters at the moment the club had rebuilt it. Capacity stays at 60,704.
Instead come smaller things: expanded hospitality and retail, a catering identity called 1886 by Arsenal with Legends Global, 5G and stadium-wide connectivity, seat refurbishment and concourse work. Safe standing is already operational in the Clock End, with the North Bank to follow in 2027-28.
The commercial logic is not subtle. Arsenal's matchday income passed one hundred and fifty-four million pounds in 2024-25, and premium hospitality yields several times general admission per seat. It is also, for anyone who has spent a decade on a season-ticket waiting list, the end of a hope.
The verdict that landed while Arsenal were away
Manchester City were found guilty of more than a hundred financial breaches on 29 September. Arsenal are one of four clubs reported to be preparing a claim.
On 29 September an independent commission found Manchester City guilty of all the serious charges brought by the Premier League, covering 2009-10 to 2017-18. The commission concluded the club had arranged what it described as sham contracts and used schemes to inflate revenues artificially, with figures above nine hundred million pounds cited in reporting of the findings. Manchester City say they are disappointed and surprised, maintain the opinion contains clear material errors, and have appealed.
No sanction has been imposed. Guilt and punishment are separate stages. Sky Sports reported that rival clubs do not expect Manchester City to be in the top flight next season if the appeal fails, and that a single-season points deduction is widely regarded as insufficient. The appeal is expected before Christmas.
The Arsenal angle is twofold. First, money. Arsenal joined Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur in reserving the right to seek compensation in November 2024, because the Limitation Act allows six years for breach-of-contract claims. The Independent has since reported the four clubs are now planning to launch an action, with combined claims potentially exceeding two hundred million pounds. Arsenal finished fifth in 2016-17 and were runners-up to Manchester City in 2022-23 and 2023-24.
Second, the table. Manchester City are top with a perfect record and Arsenal are three points behind. Any sanction applied this season would reshape a title race Arsenal are currently losing by the margin of one game.
Gunners Abroad
Seventeen players, nine countries, three weeks
A record for Gyokeres, a first international goal for Calafiori, two hamstrings lost and a sixteen-year-old sent off.
Sweden.Viktor Gyokeres scored in a 1-0 win at Romania in Bucharest, striking in the thirteenth minute. It was his seventh consecutive Nations League match with a goal, a competition record, and his twenty-fifth for Sweden, past Marcus Berg. He had also scored against Bosnia and Herzegovina on 3 October. Sweden lead Bosnia by two points.
England.Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ezri Konsa were all involved in the 7-0 win in Croatia on 3 October. Konsa completed ninety minutes there and against Spain before being sent back with a quad problem. Lewis-Skelly started Tuesday night's fixture against Czechia at Wembley with Saka on the bench; the match was still being played as this edition went out.
Italy.Riccardo Calafiori scored his first Italy goal, a header off the bench in a 3-1 win over Turkey in Bologna on 5 October. Italy had drawn 1-1 with France three days earlier.
Norway.Martin Odegaard captained Norway and provided an assist in a 2-1 defeat to Portugal at the Estadio do Dragao on 4 October, with Joao Felix and Goncalo Ramos scoring for the hosts. He took a heavy kick to the ankle from Bernardo Silva and has reported back without apparent damage.
Brazil.Bruno Guimaraes scored in a 4-2 win over Australia in Townsville on 29 September, and he and Gabriel Magalhaes featured in the 4-0 win over India in Kolkata on 3 October. Finishing early was the biggest piece of scheduling luck Arsenal had: the pair have been back at London Colney for a full week.
Spain.David Raya, Martin Zubimendi and Mikel Merino came through a 4-1 win over Croatia on 29 September and were in Split on Tuesday, the latest return of any Arsenal player.
Netherlands, Germany and Greece. The expensive window. Jurrien Timber and Kai Havertz were on opposite sides of the 1-1 draw in Amsterdam that marked Jurgen Klopp's first match as Germany manager, and Havertz came out of it with a hamstring strain. Christos Tzolis lasted under twenty minutes of Greece's 2-2 draw with the Netherlands before his own hamstring went.
Northern Ireland and Gibraltar.Ceadach O'Neill made his fourth senior appearance in Northern Ireland's 3-0 win over Ukraine on 2 October. James Scanlon, twenty, scored Gibraltar's equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Malta on 1 October.
The women away
Leah Williamson captains England in the two-legged 2027 World Cup qualifying play-off against Greece, with Georgia Stanway and Alessia Russo also in Sarina Wiegman's twenty-three-player squad named on 29 September. Ella Toone and Chloe Kelly missed out. The first leg is in Crete on Friday, the second at the King Power Stadium on Tuesday, both live on ITV. Beth Mead is in the squad too, now as a Manchester City player.
Numbers of the Week
7
Consecutive Nations League matches in which Gyokeres has scored, a competition record. He has not scored for Arsenal this season.
8
Arsenal's Premier League goals in five matches, fewest in the top seven and half of Brighton's sixteen.
21
Days between Arsenal's last match, the 3-0 defeat at Brighton, and Saturday's visit from Leeds United.
4
Goals Arsenal Women have scored in five WSL matches. They are tenth, ten points behind Manchester City.
In Brief
Carabao Cup trip confirmed
Arsenal visit Fleetwood Town in the fourth round on Tuesday 27 October, with the date now fixed. Dowman scored twice in the third round, so expect a young team.
Dortmund reunion looming
Ethan Nwaneri's season-long loan at Borussia Dortmund carries no permanent clauses, and Dortmund are drawn to visit the Emirates in the Champions League on 24 November.
Champions League: one down, seven to go
Arsenal's only European match so far was a 1-0 win at Napoli on 9 September, settled by Martin Odegaard. Lille come to the Emirates next Tuesday, then Bayern Munich away on 21 October.
Meslier arrives for nothing, faces his old club
Illan Meslier joined on a free transfer from Leeds United in July as third choice behind David Raya and Kepa Arrizabalaga, and is registered for Europe. His former club are Saturday's opponents.
Three Champions League slots still open
Arsenal named a twenty-two-player A list, leaving three registration places unused. Under-21 players born after 1 January 2005, Dowman and Lewis-Skelly among them, remain eligible via List B.
Arsenal Women skip the League Cup
Format changes mean Arsenal Women are not in the FA Women's League Cup this season, leaving the WSL, the FA Cup and the Champions League as their three competitions.
What to Watch
The next seven days, with every kick-off converted to Pacific time. Arsenal's men return after three weeks off, and England's women play for a place at the World Cup.
Arsenal and England: 6 to 13 October
Tonight, Tuesday 6 October
England v Czechia, Nations League, Wembley. Lewis-Skelly started, Saka benched. Croatia v Spain in Split for Raya, Zubimendi and Merino.
In progress as this edition was sent.
Friday 9 October
Greece v England Women, World Cup play-off first leg, Pankritio Stadium, Crete. Williamson captains, with Stanway and Russo. ITV.
5:30 p.m. in London. 9:30 a.m. Pacific.
Saturday 10 October
Arsenal v Leeds United, Premier League matchweek six, Emirates Stadium. Second against fifth, and the first Arsenal match in 21 days.
12:30 in London. 4:30 a.m. Pacific.
Saturday 10 October
Arsenal under-21s v Sunderland, Premier League 2, Meadow Park. Horseman's side are 23rd and still without a win.
Kick-off time to be confirmed.
Monday 12 October
England Women under-23s v Norway, GNER Stadium, York.
7:30 p.m. in London. 11:30 a.m. Pacific.
Tuesday 13 October
Arsenal v Lille, Champions League matchday two, Emirates Stadium. Tzolis is expected to miss it.
8:00 p.m. in London. 12:00 noon Pacific.
Tuesday 13 October
England v Greece Women, play-off second leg, King Power Stadium, Leicester. ITV.
7:30 p.m. in London. 11:30 a.m. Pacific.
Standings snapshot: Premier League, after five matches
Team
GD
Pts
1. Manchester City
+8
15
2. Arsenal
+4
12
3. Brighton
+11
10
4. Brentford
+6
9
5. Leeds United
+4
9
6. Liverpool
+3
9
7. Everton
+3
9
8. Hull City
+2
8
Arsenal are second, three behind Manchester City, who have won all five. Newcastle United are ninth on eight points, Chelsea tenth on seven and Tottenham Hotspur bottom on two. Via Fox Sports.
Beyond next week: Arsenal Women host Birmingham City on 17 October, the men host Nottingham Forest on 18 October, then travel to Bayern Munich on 21 October and face Everton on 24 October before the Carabao Cup fourth round at Fleetwood Town on 27 October. Arsenal Women are at Tottenham Hotspur on 24 October and host Benfica in the Champions League on 28 October.
Kick-off times are converted from British Summer Time, which is eight hours ahead of Pacific Daylight Time until 25 October. Later fixtures are listed with local times only, because broadcast selections can still move them.
Sources and notes
The Athletic · BBC Sport · Sky Sports · The Guardian · Arsenal.com · Arseblog News
Every item above is attributed in the text. Transfer stories are labelled by certainty, from link through concrete interest and advanced talks to official. Anything that could not be stood up with a reliable source has been left out or marked unconfirmed, and where outlets report different fees the discrepancy is noted.
The Weekly Arsenal Digest. Compiled Tuesday 6 October 2026 at noon Pacific. Companion edition to The Weekly Soccer Digest.