Arseblog - the arsecasts, arsenal podcasts

It may be an Interlull but there's still a podcast and this week I chat to Josh Robinson, co-author of a fantastic book called – The Club: How the English Premier League Became the Wildest, Richest, Most Disruptive Force in Sports. We speak about the formation of the Premier League, how Arsenal's David Dein played a key role and how Roman Abramovich might have bought a different London club, the growth into a massive global phenomenon, how the money keeps flooding in, where it might all end up in terms of a European Super League, and lots more besides. 

It might be an Interlull but we have an Arsecast Extra for you all the same. James and I chat a bit about the weekend's non-Arsenal action, including a defeat for Chelsea which has sparked some action on our favourite Twitter hashtag. We then discuss the Europa League quarter-final draw, the decision of Monchi to turn down Arsenal and rejoin Sevilla, where it leaves us as a club, why the role of Technical Director is so important and why there's some genuine urgency required when it comes to making an appointment. We then answer questions about the Wojciech Szczesny interview in which he discusses his ex-teammates, Reiss Nelson's loan deal at Hoffenheim and his prospects for next season, Aaron Ramsey's recent performances, Lionel Messi, enjoyable collapses and loads more. Here's the breakfast pie link: https://imgur.com/a/tpbt9 And the Szczesny interview: https://p1r.es/2JqTC54

On this extra Arsecast Extra James and I discuss the 3-0 win over Rennes last night, and our qualification for the quarter-finals of the Europa League. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang stole the show with two goals, an assist and a celebration that caught the eye, but there was a lot more to like, including another promising display from Ainsley Maitland-Niles, the fact we've overturned a first leg deficit of this margin for the first time since the 70s, and how quiet we kept the gobby opposition. We then answer listener questions about our potential opponents in the next round, which outfield player would do the best job in goal if required, some behind the scenes podcast chat, who our player of the season might be, before we display outstanding ignorance about the Avengers and its several thousand members, and more.

This week it's a very goodly morning as we enjoy and recap the 2-0 win over Manchester United yesterday. They had their chances but a brilliant display from Bernd Leno kept them at bay, along with a hugely committed and defensively focused team performance. We chat about Granit Xhaka's opening goal, Leno's heroics, Aaron Ramsey's midfield role and, of course, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's penalty which will hopefully lift the dark clouds off him after a difficult week. We also discuss the implications of this result in the top four chase after a weekend in which those around us have faltered, before listener questions about our away games on the run-in, Xhaka's performance yesterday and where he is in the grand scheme of things, Sead Kolasinac, how to approach the Europa League game on Thursday, pitch invaders and lots more. Also, visit the Arsecast Extra 275 post on https://arseblog.com to view our Premier League predictions spreadsheet

On this week's show I chat with James about the 3-1 defeat to Rennes in the Europa League on Thursday night. A bright start was followed by a sending off, but did Unai Emery do enough to deal with the situation? Why didn't the man famous for half-time changes make a half-time change? We discuss the goals we conceded, the lack of impact the substitutes made, what this might do to our confidence ahead of Sunday and lots more – including terrifying dog frights. Then I chat to Man Utd fan Daniel Harris about the Champions League and VAR, as well as their revival under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.