Before the transfer window had even opened, we had already confirmed that we would be getting Unai Emery to replace Arsene Wenger. To start with I wasn’t too excited about Emery, but recently he has bought a few excellent players to add to our lineup. Below I have listed the players and a bit of information about them.

Stephan Lichtsteiner

Lichtsteiner is a Swiss defender who used to play for Italian team Juventus. He signed a one-year contract and moved for a free transfer. I think it is good that we got Lichtsteiner because we have recently not been as secure at the back as we should be. Lichtsteiner played in this year’s World Cup and brought Switzerland all the way to the round of 16.

Bernd Leno

Leno is a German goalkeeper who used to play for German team Bayer 04 Leverkusen. We bought him for £19.2m. I think it is good we got Leno because, as I said about Lichtsteiner, we haven’t been as good in defence as we should be. But I’m particularly happy about signing him because I have heard of him and apparently he is very good.

Sokratis Papasthopoulos

Sokratis is a Greek footballer who used to play for German team Borussia Dortmund. We signed him for £17.6m. I think he will fit in well at Arsenal because he seems like a pretty tough guy which is good as we need a few strong men in our team. Also in 2013 Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan and Sokratis moved to Dortmund. Now all three of them will be able to re-unite at Arsenal.

Lucas Torreira

Torreira is a Uruguayan defensive midfielder who used to play for Italian team Sampdoria. We signed him for £26.4m. He played every minute and a huge roll in Uruguay’s run to the World Cup quarter finals.  He is very young right now (only 22 years old) so he could be an Arsenal starter for a long time to come.

Matteo Guendouzi 

Guendouzi is a French midfielder who used to play for French team Lorient. When I first saw the news, I instantly thought two things: one, ‘Who is that?’ And two, ‘He should get a haircut.’ Not many people have heard of him because he is just 19 and used to play for Lorient, who are in the French League Two.

So there are Emery’s five signings this summer. I think that is all because the players are back at training already, but I am very happy with all these signings, especially the signing of Bernd Leno who I can’t wait to watch in action. I am also really excited because Arsenal are coming to Singapore (which is where I live), and they will be playing Atletico Madrid and PSG while they’re here.

Since Wenger left Arsenal many rumors have circulated about who would be his replacement. It was looking very certain that the former Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta (who had recently been the assistant at Manchester City) would be the next Arsene Wenger. But suddenly, on the 23rd of May, Arsenal announced that Unai Emery would become the next Arsenal manager!

Unai Emery has managed Lorca Deportiva, Almeria, Valencia, Spartak Moscow, Sevilla and (most famously) PSG. When he managed Sevilla he won three Europa Leagues in consecutive seasons which might turn out to be useful as we will be playing in that competition next season.

Since Emery officially joined Arsenal there have been a lot of rumors about players who could possibly play for us next season. Some don’t look as likely as others, so here are a few that look more likely to happen:

Stephan Lichtsteiner: Lichtsteiner is a Swiss veteran who plays for Juventus. He is a very experienced defender who would probably be able to straighten out our dodgy backline for a season or two.

Lorenzo Pellegrini: Pellegrini is a young Italian midfielder who plays for Roma. He played in that great game in which Roma beat Barcelona 3-0!

After being knocked out of the Europa League by Atletico Madrid and losing to Manchester United, Arsenal were desperate for a win, especially since we were playing the team that were only within three points of us. It was also Arsene Wenger’s final home game!

Fourteen minutes into the game, Lacazette and Iwobi did a one-two around a Burnley player before Lacazette sent a low cross into the box, where Aubameyang was waiting to prod the ball past Nick Pope! That was Aubameyang’s seventh goal in only eleven appearances for us.

Two minutes into additional time at the end of the first half, Bellerin attacked down the wing then cut the ball back to Lacazette who volleyed the ball in!  Our top scorer had scored again, netting his fourteenth goal of the season. We were two to the good and it wasn’t even the second half yet.

Nine minutes after half time, Wilshere ran past a bunch of Burnley players before releasing a pass to Kolasinac who smashed the ball from the edge of the box past Pope! We had scored again and were now cruising.

Ten minutes later, Aubameyang passed the ball to Iwobi who was unmarked. He smacked the ball into the roof of the net for our fourth goal.

In the seventy-first minute, we made a double substitution. Wilshere went off and was replaced by Ramsey, and Welbeck replaced Lacazette.

In the seventy-fifth minute, Bellerin crossed the ball in to the box where Aubameyang was waiting to tap it home for our fifth goal and his second! We had officially crushed them and secured our Europa League position for next season.

A minute later, Mertesacker replaced Chambers to a standing ovation because this game was also his last home game as an Arsenal player. Mertesacker is going to be coaching the Arsenal youth team next year.

Fourteen minutes later, the final whistle blew to signal the end of the game. We had won for Wenger on his final home game. There was a presentation for Wenger and Mertesacker after the game. Our two final matches will be against Leicester and Huddersfield. I am also really exited because Arsenal are coming to Singapore (which is where I live) and playing PSG and Atletico Madrid in the ICC Championships in July.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

PLAYER RATINGS (STARTING ELEVEN)

Petr Cech: 7

Hector Bellerin: 8

Calum Chambers: 7

Konstantinos Mavropanos: 9

Sead Kolasinac: 7

Granit Xhaka: 7

Jack Wilshere: 8

Henrikh Mkhitaryan: 8

Alex Iwobi: 8

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: 10

Alexandre Lacazette: 8½

It has finally happened. After twenty-one and a half years, Arsène Wenger has resigned from Arsenal! Or at least he will at the end of the season. In this blog post, I will analyze Wenger’s move, his achievements, and his possible successors. As I just said, Wenger has been with Arsenal for twenty-one and a half years and has achieved some amazing things, but recently, after not making the Champions League for the first time in his Arsenal career, his job has come under fire. He was given a two-year contract extension only last year, so when he resigned yesterday it came as a big surprise

Wenger’s Achievements

Arsène Wenger is one of the most prolific managers in the world, with three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups (which is the most FA Cups won by any manager). He has also managed the second most games in the Premier League with 823 to his name! But arguably Wenger’s most memorable achievement was the 2003/04 season in which Arsenal went a whole season without losing and then into the next season! (Forty-nine games altogether.)

Possible Replacements (Rated by Probability)

Carlo Ancelotti: Carlo Ancelotti is also regarded as one of the best managers in the world and has managed Chelsea and Bayern Munich. He has won the Champions league thrice and the Premier League once. Recently Ancelotti was sacked from Bayern Munich after Bayern had a poor spell in form. He is currently living in London, so there would be no complications in terms of his living conditions.

Rating: 5 I think Ancelotti would be a great replacement for Wenger but it doesn’t look likely to happen.

Brendan Rodgers: Brendan Rodgers is an Irish manager who has managed Liverpool and the Chelsea youth team. He recently joined Scottish team Celtic and went a whole season unbeaten!

Rating: 8 Brendan Rodgers did well in the Scottish league, but I personally don’t think that he will help us with our Champions League aspirations.

Diego Simeone: Simeone is the manager of last year’s Champions League finalists Atletico Madrid. He has managed Atletico for seven years and has created a great team with the likes of Antoine Greizmann. We will play Simeone’s team tomorrow in the Europa League.

Rating: 7 Simeone is my first pick for the new Arsenal manager, but it looks like he’s content at Atletico Madrid.   

Thierry Henry: Henry is one of Arsenal’s best ever players and was one of the Invincibles. He’s Arsenal’s all-time top scorer with 228 goals in all competitions. He is now a pundit and on the Belgium coaching staff.

Rating: 8 Henry would be my second pick because he knows a lot about Arsenal. He has experience in Europe, having won the Champions League with Barcelona.

Patrick Vieira: Vieira was the captain of our invincible team and was one of our best midfielders ever. He also played for Inter Milan. He has recently been managing New York City FC.

Rating: 7 Vieira is an Arsenal legend and he could increase his status by becoming our manager.

Joachim Löw: Joachim Löw has been very successful as the German manager, winning the most prestigious competition in the world – the 2014 World Cup.

Rating: 8 Joachim Löw obviously knows a lot about managing as he has won the World Cup. He will also work well with a lot of our players because we have a lot of German players and players who played for German teams (e.g., Özil, Mustafi, Mertesacker, Kolasinac, Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan).

Luis Enrique: Luis Enrique is known for being the Barcelona manager. He spent three seasons at the club, winning two La Liga titles and many other trophies (including the Champions League in 2015). He also managed Barcelona during MSN’s (Messi, Suarez, Neymar) best few seasons.

Rating: 9 Luis Enrique would be a great replacement for Wenger because he was so successful with Barcelona.

So that’s it. Wenger is going at the end of the season. Like a lot of Arsenal fans, I feel happy because he is finally going but also sad because he is the only Arsenal manager I’ve ever known. So hopefully we can send Wenger out on a high by winning the Europa League (which would be his first European trophy)!

I know this isn’t Arsenal but Roma is my favorite team in Serie A and they have just pulled off one of the most historic wins and comebacks of all time. So, Roma went into this game as the underdogs, especially after Barcelona had beaten them 4-1 in the first leg. It looked nearly impossible for Roma to win.

Only six minutes into the game, Daniele De Rossi released a long pass which fell perfectly into the space Edin Džeko was running into. Džeko let the ball bounce before smashing it over Marc-André ter Stegen’s head. Roma were ahead within only six minutes! And it was 4-2 on aggregate and Roma had an away goal.

For the rest of the first half, Roma dominated – then in the fifty-sixth minute, Džeko burst into the box and was fouled by Gerard Piqué. It was a penalty! Roma had a chance to make it 4-3 on aggregate. After two minutes of arguing (from the Barcelona players), De Rossi fired the ball left of ter Stegen and into the goal! De Rossi quickly retrieved the ball from the back of the net so they could play on.

Between the seventy-second and seventy-sixth minute, Roma made two substitutions. Cengiz Ünder came on for Patrik Schick and Stephan El Shaarawy replaced Radja Nainggolan.

In the eighty-second minute, Roma were awarded a corner which Ünder swung into the front post area, where Kostas Manolas was waiting to head the ball in! Roma had done it. They had come from 4-1 down in the first leg to winning 3-0 which meant it was 4-4 on aggregate and if the game finished like this Roma would go through on away goals.

Eight minutes later the final whistle blew. Roma had done the unthinkable and knocked Barcelona out of the Champions League! And they had also reached the semi finals of the most prestigious club competition in the world, where they would play either Bayern Munich, Liverpool or Real Madrid. Hopefully Arsenal will do this well when they play CSKA Moscow in the Europa League tomorrow!

MAN OF THE MATCH

Kostas Manolas

PLAYER RATINGS (STARTING ELEVEN)

Alisson Becker: 7

Juan Jesus: 7

Federico Fazio: 7

Kostas Manolas: 10

Since my last blog post (which was the Östersunds game), Arsenal have lost 3-0 to Manchester City twice in the space of one week, including the League Cup final. We lost 2-1 to Östersunds in the second leg of the Europa League round of thirty-two, but went through on aggregate. And finally we lost 2-1 to Brighton, but since the Brighton game, everything has gone uphill for Arsenal. We beat AC Milan twice in the round of 16 of the Europa League! And in the Premier League, we beat Watford and Stoke, 3-0 in both cases. And then in the quarter-final of the Europa League, we played CSKA Moscow, which was a game that we had to win because the Europa League is the only competition we can still possibly win (and it’s our only way back into the Champions League).

Nine minutes into the game, Wilshere got into a good position to score but a Moscow player got in the way, so he passed the ball out to Bellerin, who slipped it in to Ramsey, who smashed it into the roof of the net! It was 1-0 to Arsenal and it was only nine minutes into the game.

Six minutes later, Koscielny attempted to clear the ball but fouled a Moscow player, which gave Moscow a free kick. Aleksandr Golovin took the free kick, firing the ball into the top corner! I didn’t expect that. Moscow had equalised – it was 1-1.

Six minutes after that, Georgi Shchennikov fouled Özil in the box, which gave Arsenal a penalty! And in the twenty-third minute, Lacazette coolly slotted the ball past Igor Akinfeev. We had taken the lead again, but this time we had to keep it that way.

In the twenty-eighth minute, Özil chipped the ball into the box where Ramsey was waiting unmarked. Ramsey flicked the ball first time with the outside of his boot and it went in! It was one of the best goals I’ve ever seen and now Ramsey is on a hat-trick.

Seven minutes later, in the thirty-fifth minute, Özil ran down the flank then cut the ball back to Lacazette, who was there to slot it into the bottom corner for his second goal of the game! We had given ourselves a three-goal advantage, which would be crucial for the second leg in Moscow.

After our fourth goal, we made three substitutions. The first one was made in the sixty-first minute, when we replaced Mkhitaryan (who had injured his knee) with Iwobi. Then in the seventy-third minute, we replaced Lacazette with Welbeck and Elneny came on for Wilshere.

Seventeen minutes later, the final whistle was blown. We had won! We had a three-goal advantage over CSKA Moscow for the second leg which was promising, but for now we have to return our focus to the Premier League because on 8 April (Sunday) we play Southampton who are battling relegation.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Mesut Özil

PLAYER RATINGS (STARTING ELEVEN)

Petr Cech: 8

Nacho Monreal: 7

Shkodran Mustafi: 7

Laurent Koscielny: 7

Hector Bellerin: 8

Granit Xhaka: 7

Aaron Ramsey: 9

Jack Wilshere: 8

Henrikh Mkhitaryan: 8

Alexandre Lacazette: 9

Mesut Özil: 10

In this Europa League game between Arsenal and Östersunds, we played our best team (which included players such as Mkhitaryan and Özil) because the Europa League is the only trophy that we can realistically win. Our team didn’t involve Aubameyang because he was cup-tied, having played in the Europa League for Borussia Dortmund earlier this season. Another strange thing was that Mkhitaryan’s shirt number was 77 even though his real number is 7. The reason for Mkhitaryan’s strange change of number was because earlier in the season Alexis Sanchez had played in the Europa League wearing the number 7 shirt.

Thirteen minutes into the game, Iwobi shot the ball but it was saved by the Östersunds goalkeeper, Aly Keita. Keita spilled the ball, which fell to Monreal who shot the ball into the goal! We had scored within 12 minutes and the temperature was -4°!

Eleven minutes after the first goal, Bellerin did a really good cut back, then an Östersunds defender attempted to clear the ball, but it fell to Mkhitaryan. He shot the ball and it was going out of play, but then it hit Sotirios Papagiannopoulos on the butt and rolled into the goal! Papagiannopoulos had scored an own goal and we were 2-0 up within 24 minutes.

In the 58th minute, Mkhitaryan crossed the ball to Özil. He shot and Keita attempted to save it, but it rolled under him and into the goal! We had scored again and were up 3-0.

Between the 71st and 83rd minute, we made three substitutions. They were: Monreal replaced by Kolasinac, Welbeck off and Nketiah on, and finally Nelson on for Mkhitaryan.

Seconds before the 90th minute, Bellerin slid in with a last ditch tackle which took down Tom Pettersson. It was a penalty! Pettersson shot low to the right, but Ospina saved it! Ospina had saved the first penalty Arsenal had conceded since Wojciech Szczęsny saved a penalty against Aston Villa in August 2013.

We had beaten Östersunds in the Europa League and we had a three-goal cushion for the second leg. Another thing was that we had saved a penalty which hasn’t happened since 2013! So hopefully we can beat Östersunds in the second leg and get through to the next round.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Henrikh Mkhitaryan

PLAYER RATINGS (STARTING ELEVEN)

David Ospina: 9

Nacho Monreal: 8

Shkodran Mustafi: 7

Callum Chambers: 7

Hector Bellerin: 7

Mohamed Elneny: 8

Ainsley Maitland-Niles: 7

Henrikh Mkhitaryan: 10

Mesut Özil: 8

Alex Iwobi: 7

Danny Welbeck: 7

We were playing our first game since the transfer window ended, and we had Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang (our record signing who we bought for £56 million) fit to play even though Aubameyang was apparently sick.

The first interesting thing that happened was that 6 minutes into the game Aubameyang passed the ball out wide to Mkhitaryan, who fizzed the ball into the box where Ramsey was waiting to tap it home for our first goal (and Mkhitaryan’s first contribution for Arsenal)!

Eight minutes after our first goal, Ozil took a corner. It was headed on by Mustafi and then headed in at the far post by Koscielny! We had scored our second goal within 14 minutes and it was also Koscielny’s second goal of the season.

In the 19th minute, Özil cut the ball back to Iwobi who passed to Ramsey. He smashed the ball from outside the penalty area. The ball hit Eliaquim Mangala on the foot, which took it past Jordan Pickford and into the top corner! We had scored our third and Ramsey was already on a hat-trick.

Eight minutes before halftime, Mkhitaryan played a beautiful through ball to Aubameyang who was in a 1-on-1 position with Pickford. He chipped the ball over his head and in for his first goal for Arsenal!

At halftime, we replaced Monreal with Kolasinac.

In the 64th minute, Davies passed the ball out wide to Cuco Martina who crossed the ball into the box, where Dominic Calvert-Lewin was waiting to head the ball past the injured Cech. Cech had been hurt a couple of minutes earlier by Oumar Niasse.

In the 70th minute, Cech was replaced by Ospina because of his calf injury.

Four minutes after Cech was replaced, Mkhitaryan crossed the ball to Ramsey who smashed the ball past Pickford for our fifth goal of the match. It was the first hattrick of Ramsey’s career!

Just before the final whistle, Ramsey was replaced by Wilshere.

We had won against Everton and our new signings played amazingly! Our next game is going to be a North London derby versus Sp*rs. So hopefully we can win that and move closer to a top-four position.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Henrikh Mkhitaryan

PLAYER RATINGS (STARTING ELEVEN)

Petr Cech: 8

Nacho Monreal: 7

Laurent Koscielny: 7

Shkodran Mustafi: 7

Hector Bellerin: 6

Granit Xhaka: 7

Aaron Ramsey: 9

Henrikh Mkhitaryan: 10

Mesut Özil: 8

Alex Iwobi: 6

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: 9

After a good game in which we beat Crystal Palace 4-1, we were playing Chelsea in the Carabao Cup semi-final! A good thing is that we had Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who is our latest signing, watching this game.

Four minutes into the game, Chelsea had a long pass released from the halfway line, which fell to Pedro who headed it amazingly over Ospina’s head, but luckily he was offside so it didn’t count.

Three minutes after Chelsea’s first opportunity, Victor Moses passed the ball to Pedro who slid it past our defenders and to Hazard who blasted it over Ospina’s head and into the top corner! They had gotten the ball into the back of the net twice within the first seven minutes! Things were not looking good for us.

Four minutes later, we had a corner that Monreal headed toward the goal. It hit Marcos Alonso’s head, then it hit Antonio Rüdiger, and then it went into the goal! We had equalized and it was an own goal from Rüdiger!

Fifteen minutes after the second half started, Lacazette attacked while holding off Andreas Christensen. He attempted to pass the ball to Xhaka, but it hit Rudiger’s leg instead –  which actually ended up helping us as it fell perfectly to Xhaka, who smashed it past Willy Caballero! We had turned the game around and were in the lead. Rüdiger had scored a goal for Arsenal and then provided an assist for Xhaka!

The final important thing that happened in the game was a double substitution. Lacazette was replaced by Kolašinac, and Iwobi went off for Ramsey.

We had won the Carabao Cup semi-final and were through to the final, in which we are going to play the Premier League leaders Manchester City (who beat Bristol City 5-3 on aggregate). So hopefully we can beat Man City and get our first trophy of the season.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Mohamed Elneny

PLAYER RATINGS (STARTING ELEVEN)

David Ospina: 8

Nacho Monreal: 8

Shkodran Mustafi: 7

Laurent Koscielny: 7

Hector Bellerin: 8

Granit Xhaka: 9

Mohamed Elneny: 10

Jack Wilshere: 8

Alex Iwobi: 7

Alexandre Lacazette: 7

Mesut Özil: 7

Transfer News

Since the transfer window opened we have sold our longest-serving player, Theo Walcott, to Everton. Francis Coquelin has gone to Valencia, and Alexis Sanchez went to Manchester United as part of a swap deal which got us Henrikh Mkhitaryan! We are currently trying to sign Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Bourissia Dortmund for £60 million + Olivier Giroud! We are also trying to sign a 20-year-old Brazilian forward called Malcom who plays for Bordeaux. Let’s hope we manage to sign both Malcom and Aubameyang, but at the same time don’t lose any more key players.

After our unconvincing but well fought game against Crystal Palace, we were going to play in-form Chelsea, who are second in the table and our London rivals!

Thirteen minutes into the game, Chelsea were controlling the ball in their own half when N’Golo Kanté hit a really long through ball which found Álvaro Morata who had only Chambers and Mustafi alongside him. Morata started running and Chambers drifted away from him, but Morata kicked the ball completely off the target! We had survived, but we had to be more defensively minded if we wanted to get any points.

The rest of the first half was full of chances, but the first goal came eighteen minutes after the break when Xhaka passed to Holding, who slotted the ball past the defenders and to the feet of Wilshere, who smashed the ball into the top corner! We had scored! And it was Wilshere’s first goal for Arsenal in two and a half years!

Exactly three minutes later Eden Hazard broke into the box and everyone tried to stop him but when Bellerin tapped his shin pad very lightly, he went down and it was a penalty! It was a clear dive as Bellerin barely touched him. Hazard hit the penalty straight down the middle and Cech went left! Goal! They had equalized within three minutes of us scoring.

In the 79th minute, we replaced Lacazette (strangely) with Welbeck.

Five minutes later, Davide Zappacosta beat Maitland-Niles to the corner flag and crossed the ball into the box, where Marcos Alonso was waiting to smash it in! They had turned the game around with only six minutes and possibly added time to go.

Three minutes after the Alonso goal, we replaced Chambers with Walcott so we would be more of an attacking threat.

One minute into additional time Alonso headed a clearance which fell to Bellerin who smashed the ball into the goal on the half-volley! We had equalized with only one minute to go!

It was the end of the game. We had proven the doubters (who thought we would lose) wrong and drawn our third game in five games. Our next game will be the FA Cup fourth round versus Nottingham Forest.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Hector Bellerin

PLAYER RATINGS (STARTING ELEVEN)

Petr Cech: 8

Rob Holding: 6

Shkodran Mustafi: 7

Callum Chambers: 6

Ainsley Maitland-Niles: 7

Jack Wilshere: 9

Granit Xhaka: 7

Hector Bellerin: 10

Mesut Ozil: 7

Alexis Sanchez: 7

Alexandre Lacazette: 7