Category: Arsenal

By David Hytner on September 21st, 2017

Arsène Wenger denies making example of Alexis Sánchez after failed move

• Chile forward has yet to start in the Premier League since Man City interest
• Wenger says he believes Sánchez is happy at Arsenal

Arsène Wenger has insisted he is not seeking to make any sort of point to Alexis Sánchez over his selections of him so far this season.

Sánchez tried and failed to force a move to Manchester City before the closure of the summer transfer window and Wenger has used him of late as a starter in the Europa League and Carabao Cup but only as a substitute in the Premier League.

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By Amy Lawrence at Emirates Stadium on September 20th, 2017

Nervous Arsenal scrape past Doncaster after Theo Walcott’s neat finish

The circumstances might have been low-key compared to Wenger-Ferguson duels of old, but the second generation of a legendary footballing family did his upmost to ensure it was an edgy, vehemently competed affair as Arsenal squeaked past Doncaster Rovers. Darren Ferguson’s team gave Arsenal a fright as a contest that looked relatively comfortable in the first half turned into a nail-biter.

The Carabao Cup might not be a priority – the lowest recorded crowd since Arsenal moved to the Emirates of 44,064 attested to a certain lack of enthusiasm in north London – but Doncaster and their merry followers were able to admire a battling performance that belied their position in the lower reaches of League One.

Arsenal • Carabao Cup • Doncaster Rovers • Football • Sport

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By Scott Murray on September 20th, 2017

Manchester United v Burton, Arsenal v Doncaster and more – Carabao Cup live!

Chelsea v Forest, Everton v Sunderland and West Brom v Man City
Live scoreboard! Follow all the night’s games around Europe
Feel free to email scott.murray@theguardian.com
And if you like your football old-school, this may be your bag

11.15am BST

It’s the third round of the League Cup! (No, I can’t bring myself to call it that. Rumbelows never seemed a classier brand.) And here are the remaining fixtures, to be played this fine evening …

Arsenal • Burton Albion • Chelsea • Doncaster Rovers • EFL Cup • Everton • Football • Manchester City • Manchester United • Nottingham Forest • Sport • Sunderland • West Bromwich Albion

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By Guardian Staff on September 20th, 2017

Arsenal using Carabao Cup to test new players, says Wenger – video

Speaking before his team’s match against Doncaster at the Emirates on Wednesday, Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger say he is using the tournament to trial some of his newest players. He adds that his current set of young players are some of the best he has ever had

Arsenal • Arsène Wenger • Doncaster Rovers • Football • Sport

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By Jamie Jackson on September 20th, 2017

Darren Ferguson: ‘Arsène Wenger is sorting the tickets for my father at Arsenal’

Doncaster’s manager will recreate a famous touchline pairing when he takes on Arsenal in the Carabao Cup. He discusses Wenger, Sir Alex’s advice and his Premier League ambitions

In his office overlooking Doncaster Rovers’ lush training pitches Darren Ferguson is telling a story that neatly illustrates how close his father, Sir Alex, and Arsène Wenger are these days. Ferguson Jr’s side play Arsenal on Wednesday night in a Carabao Cup tie that pits two famous managerial names against each other again.

Ferguson Sr and Wenger were sworn enemies during the late 1990s and early 2000s, when Manchester United and Arsenal duelled as English football’s pre‑eminent forces. The enmity, though, has faded and Wenger’s friendship with the retired Scot is borne out by the fact the Frenchman is helping Ferguson Sr to be at the Emirates to see his son’s side take on the Gunners.

Arsenal • Arsène Wenger • Carabao Cup • Doncaster Rovers • Football • Sir Alex Ferguson • Sport

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By Dominic Fifield on September 19th, 2017

Antonio Conte rings changes at Chelsea with Ethan Ampadu set for Carabao Cup

• Teenager from Exeter City called up to face Nottingham Forest
• Arsenal’s Danny Welbeck sidelined for at least a month

Antonio Conte has promoted Ethan Ampadu, the teenager signed from Exeter City over the summer, to his senior squad for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup third-round tie against Nottingham Forest, with Chelsea set to make a host of changes for the game at Stamford Bridge.

The Premier League champions are expected to field an all-Belgian front line of Eden Hazard, Michy Batshuayi and Charly Musonda, a 20-year-old forward whose previous involvement has been limited to cameos from the bench in the Community Shield and in the opening-day loss against Burnley. Dujon Sterling, a two-times FA Youth Cup winner, may also be in the squad, with Ampadu likely to start among the substitutes.

Antonio Conte • Arsenal • Carabao Cup • Chelsea • Football • Sport

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By Andy Hunter on September 18th, 2017

Jürgen Klopp says Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain ‘relieved’ to join Liverpool

• Klopp says players often need move in order to make next step
• Midfielder to make first start for Liverpool in cup at Leicester

Jürgen Klopp has claimed Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s move from Arsenal came as “a kind of relief” to the England international.

The 24-year-old will make his first Liverpool start in the Carabao Cup tie at Leicester City on Tuesday, having made three substitute appearances since signing for an initial £35m on transfer deadline day. Oxlade-Chamberlain spent six years at Arsenal where Arsène Wenger cited a lack of self-belief as one of the reasons the midfielder struggled to establish himself at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal • Carabao Cup • Football • Jürgen Klopp • Liverpool • Sport

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By Barney Ronay on September 18th, 2017

Sead Kolasinac adds missing muscle to Arsenal’s array of skill-gnomes | Barney Ronay

The Bosnian represents an echo of the powerful, hard-running players who characterised Arsène Wenger’s best title-winning teams

One thing you often lose watching a football match on television is the sound levels. Not just the noise of the crowd but the noise of the players, a scale of collision and opposing force that means certain incidents, and indeed the careers of certain players, can have an entirely different register in the flesh.

David Luiz’s red card against Arsenal on Sunday was one such case. Replays and stills will show a raised foot but really this was a red card you had to hear. So profound was the thunk of contact those nearby knew instantly the challenge went beyond necessary force and into the realms of dangerous excess.

Arsenal • Arsène Wenger • Chelsea • Football • Sport

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By Guardian sport on September 18th, 2017

Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action

Bournemouth get some return from £15m Ibe, Chelsea lack plan B without Diego Costa, Burnley are not long-ball side and Jamaal Lascelles has grown up fast

The Dozen: our pick of the weekend’s best Premier League photos

Manchester City and Manchester United have goal differences of +14 after five matches. That is more than Celtic in the Scottish Premier League, a division routinely mocked for being uncompetitive. If the Manchester clubs carry on winning by the margins they have enjoyed so far, then they will surpass the Premier League’s record goal difference (+71 racked up by Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea in 2009-10), the best ever mustered by Celtic (+80), the New Saints in Wales (+75) and the preposterous Ligue 1 record set by Paris Saint-Germain two years ago (+83). Of course that is a big ‘if’ because there is a small clutch of teams who could frustrate or even beat them. But United and, in particular, City are likely to ridicule many opponents this season. City beat United to the 2012 title on goal difference (+64 against +56); for José Mourinho there would surely be no sweeter way to prevail over Pep Guardiola this season. Paul Doyle

Arsenal • Bournemouth • Brighton & Hove Albion • Burnley • Chelsea • Crystal Palace • Everton • Football • Huddersfield • Leicester City • Liverpool • Manchester City • Manchester United • Newcastle United • Premier League • Southampton • Sport • Stoke City • Swansea City • Tottenham Hotspur • Watford • West Bromwich Albion • West Ham United

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By Daffydd Bynon and Steven Bloor on September 17th, 2017

The Dozen: the weekend’s best Premier League photos

Your weekend roundup of the best photography from England’s top flight

• Follow us on Instagram for more great sports photography

Arsenal • Burnley • Chelsea • Crystal Palace • Everton • Football • Huddersfield • Leicester City • Liverpool • Manchester City • Manchester United • Premier League • Southampton • Sport • Swansea City • Tottenham Hotspur • Watford • West Bromwich Albion • West Ham United

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By Guardian Staff on September 17th, 2017

David Luiz’s red card foul was excessive force, says Arsène Wenger – video

Following Chelsea’s goalless draw with Arsenal, both managers were asked about the red card given to David Luiz at the end of the match. Arsène Wenger described it as “excessive force” and suggested that with distance, Luiz might accept that he went in too strong. Antonio Conte suggested that the referee might have blown for a foul directly before

Arsenal • Chelsea • Football • Premier League • Sport

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By Barney Ronay at Stamford Bridge on September 17th, 2017

Eden Hazard cameo underlines Chelsea’s need for extra source of flair | Barney Ronay

Belgian forward comes on to give his side creative edge they had been lacking but too late to find way through Arsenal in claustrophobic game of fine details

On a rowdy, bruising, enjoyably intense afternoon at Stamford Bridge Chelsea showed two sides to their game. First came the one that doesn’t involve Eden Hazard. For the opening 70 minutes of this 0-0 draw the champions were neat, focused, disciplined and aggressively blunt in their attacking rhythms, the gears a little gummed.

After which, in glimpses, they played the other version, the Hazard-remix, the one where Chelsea’s No10 provides a vital free radical element in Antonio Conte’s hard-running 3-5-2, somebody to see the angles between the angles, to create space rather than simply applying relentless physical pressure.

Arsenal • Chelsea • Football • Premier League • Sport

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By Dominic Fifield at Stamford Bridge on September 17th, 2017

Antonio Conte says Chelsea ‘need more luck’ with referees after latest red card

• David Luiz sent off for tackle on Arsenal’s Sead Kolasinac
• Wenger delighted with players in first away game since Liverpool

Antonio Conte has described Chelsea’s troubling recent disciplinary record as “strange” and suggested his team need “to be more lucky” with officials after David Luiz became the fifth player to be dismissed in the champions’ last eight games, late in the 0-0 draw with Arsenal at Stamford Bridge.

The Brazilian defender, already booked, was shown a straight red card by Michael Oliver after planting his right foot into Sead Kolasinac’s left shin three minutes from time. David Luiz had lost control of the ball as he attempted to shrug off Alexis Sánchez, snapping at his back, and was apparently dismissed for use of excessive force. He will now serve a three-match ban, missing the visit of Nottingham Forest on Wednesday in the League Cup, next weekend’s trip to Stoke and, most critically, the home game against Manchester City at the end of the month.

Arsenal • Chelsea • Football • Sport

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By Dominic Fifield at Stamford Bridge on September 17th, 2017

David Luiz sees red as Arsenal hold Chelsea in stalemate at Stamford Bridge

By the time this contest erupted three minutes from time it is safe to assume both managers might actually have accepted the whole occasion fizzling out as a goalless non-event. Chelsea had been surprised by the visitors’ tenacity and refusal to wilt, and had only generated the upbeat tempo which can set them apart in sporadic bursts. A point almost felt like a bonus. Arsenal, saddled with that wretched recent record both against the recent top six and here in particular, would have been delighted merely to check a five-match losing streak in this corner of the capital. A draw represented progress.

And yet, given the rather frazzled nature of the latter stages, this game was never likely to pass off entirely without incident. Frustration had been mounting all afternoon, with David Luiz and Sead Kolasinac’s duels increasingly spiky and played out all over the field. Alexis Sánchez’s introduction seemed to raise the locals’ heckles even more. Then, three minutes from time, the Brazilian centre-back became preoccupied trying to shield the loose ball from the Chilean as Sánchez grappled at him from behind. In darted Kolasinac to thump the ball in-field, with David Luiz, flustered, diving in and catching the Bosnian on the base of his left shin.

Arsenal • Chelsea • Football • Premier League • Sport

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By Jacob Steinberg on September 17th, 2017

Chelsea v Arsenal: Premier League – live!

Updates from the 1.30pm BST kick-off at Stamford Bridge
Live scores: all Sunday’s goals and scorers
Email Jacob or tweet @JacobSteinberg

1.27pm BST

Here come the teams. It’s time for The Liquidator! “In the tunnel Koscielny looks as though he is taking a moment to question the point of it all and lingering over thoughts of where he would rather be right now,” says Ian Copestake. “Not that I am projecting or anything!”

1.18pm BST

Antonio Conte speaks. “When you have to play seven games in 21 days, it is normal to have a plan and then make the best decision game by game. Eden is very close and he is improving very well.”

Arsenal • Chelsea • Football • Premier League • Sport

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By Paul Doyle on September 16th, 2017

Sead Kolasinac and a back three: how Arsenal can halt Chelsea onslaught | Paul Doyle

Sead Kolasinac has the steel Arsenal need to end their run of five defeats at Stamford Bridge but Arsène Wenger must play him on the left and stick to three at the back

Arsenal fans will travel to Stamford Bridge on Sunday with a dram of hope, even though they know that by most measures their spirits should be low. Recent visits to Chelsea have been harrowing for the north London club, with Arsenal losing their last five matches there by a combined score of 15-2. Both their away games in the Premier League this season have brought similar ordeals, with Liverpool thrashing them 4-0 and Stoke City punishing errant finishing and flaky defending to inflict a 1-0 defeat. A strong case can be made for dismissing Arsène Wenger’s timid travellers right now as “same old Arsenal” and not even bothering to watch their inevitable defeat against Antonio Conte’s side on Sunday. But where is the joy in that?

Arsenal • Chelsea • Football • Football tactics • Premier League • Sport

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By Guardian Staff on September 16th, 2017

Antonio Conte and Arsène Wenger speak before Chelsea v Arsenal – video

Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger and Antonio Conte of Chelsea talk about their upcoming Premier League match. Conte begins by sending his thoughts to those affected by the events at Parsons Green before warning his side to pay attention to Arsenal’s quality. Wenger focuses on his team’s recent winning record over the Blues

Álvaro Morata’s fast Chelsea start shows how Arsenal are playing catch-up again

Antonio Conte • Arsenal • Arsène Wenger • Chelsea • Football • Premier League • Sport

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By Jonathan Wilson on September 16th, 2017

Álvaro Morata’s fast Chelsea start shows how Arsenal are playing catch-up again | Jonathan Wilson

The Spanish No9’s instant integration into Chelsea’s forward line only adds to the sense that Arsène Wenger’s Arsenal are a club locked in perpetual transition

In football, there are perhaps two types of crisis. There is the Arsenal type that festers for years until after a decade of stagnation and low-level grumbling you suddenly find all your best players are out of contract and you are battling Everton for sixth place. And there is the Chelsea type that bubbles up from nowhere, threatens to derail everything, and then blows itself out just as suddenly as it arrived.

Whatever was going on at Stamford Bridge in August essentially ceased to affect performances on the pitch as soon as Antonio Conte put on a suit again; the semiotics of a Chelsea manager’s dress sense remain a fertile area of research. The squad still looks a little slender to compete in both Premier League and Champions League, which may lead to problems later in the season, but for now Chelsea look set fair, particularly given Eden Hazard’s return from an ankle injury.

Arsenal • Arsène Wenger • Chelsea • Football • Football tactics • Sport

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By Guardian Staff on September 16th, 2017

Chelsea v Arsenal: match preview

Arsenal have not won a league game at Stamford Bridge in six years. They will cling to the success gained against Antonio Conte’s side in the FA Cup final, and the Community Shield, but will surely find this a more daunting assignment. Chelsea have quietly been building up a head of steam, and they eased beyond Qarabag in midweek with key players rested and an eye on this derby. Conte will consider this an opportunity to make a statement in terms of his side’s title defence. Dominic Fifield

Kick-off Sunday 1.30pm

Arsenal • Chelsea • Football • Premier League • Sport

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By David Hytner on September 15th, 2017

Antonio Conte quietly confident force is with Chelsea to avenge Arsenal losses

The Italian will be quieter than usual in the dug-out on Sunday due to a throat infection but feels momentum is with the champions against an Arsenal side who have had the better of their recent meetings

Antonio Conte blamed the air conditioning, which is not the sort of line that can be expected to kick off a piece on Chelsea’s derby against Arsenal on Sunday. Stick with it. The Chelsea manager has a throat infection, he has been on antibiotics since Thursday and he is in a race against time to recover his fitness.

Antonio Conte • Arsenal • Chelsea • Football • Premier League • Sport

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