Good morning! Lewis is here, covering the morning. I have a cup of tea on the way and can’t wait to get out into the cool air of Berlin. This time of year is great, isn’t it? It’s a little cold, but not too dark or wet yet. Make the most of it!
Saturday’s 3pm home game would be the perfect time, but it looks like Islington will be showered during the Everton game.
That familiar game-every-three-day grind is in full swing, and when it comes to days like this, I find myself still watching the game unfold while you wait for the next one. On Wednesday, Bayern reminded us that it is still very early in the season; We have no idea how everything will affect the club and also the individual players.
This time a year ago, if you’d asked me about Myles Lewis-Skelly, I’d have said he’s been good in the cup and his Champions League start – he was impressive in the win against Atletico – and has been getting plenty of minutes as a sub in the league.
Then, in the first few months of 2026, he went 10 Premier League games without featuring. He was an unused single in nine of them and missed the team entirely in another. At the end of April I felt it was nailed for the summer sale. A month later, he was clearly on course for a decent start in the Champions League final, a position we’d never seen him in at a high level just a few weeks ago.
Things change very quickly.
Noni Madueke has shown in recent weeks that this could be a big season for him. Although he scored against Ipswich in the League Cup, his opportunities were limited in the early weeks of the season. He’s been our most consistent threat against Leeds since the international break and helped set up the equalizer from the left, assisted Lille with the opener from the right a few days later, moved back to the left to score the winner at Nottingham Forest at the weekend and then put in a good performance on the right in Munich.
Earlier in the week it felt like Madueke had won the battle to play on the left and you had to squint to see Eberechi Eze on his way to any meaningful football for Arsenal. Suddenly, when Bukayo Saka limped off, Eze was given the opportunity to respond immediately and not only scored but also created a consistent threat in Germany. The picture of Eze having a successful season is no longer so blurred.
I am not yet worried about Martin Zubimendi, who “suffered” something from grace by applying these rules to others. He was in the “first name on the team sheet” category for too long last season. Not that he’s now persona non grata or anything, but it’s not easy to see his way back. But it is still early days.
In all competitions, only David Raya and Declan Rice played more minutes than Zubimendi last season. Including all other Premier League teams, there are only seven outfield players who have played more minutes. We all know he looked tired throughout the spring, then went to the World Cup, was there until the end and came off the bench in the Community Shield for a big 15-minute pre-season game.
Hopefully this period is something that rebuilds and does him a lot of good as we head into winter and the second half of the season. Before the international break, he’s still featured in every Premier League game so far this season – I don’t think it’s a case of the manager disliking him any more – but with just two starts (in all competitions, including friendlies for club and country) since the end of April, it makes sense that he’s lacking some rhythm at the moment. Then it becomes difficult to find a window to throw the player.
Sometimes luck is not on your side. Just as Saka’s misfortune gave Eze an opportunity to react immediately to what happened at the weekend, Zubimendi was likely to be lined up to start last week’s game against Lille but was dropped in the warm-up after Leeds.
It’s safe to assume he’ll play against Fleetwood next week. The fixture list leading into the international break offers that game, a trip to Slavia Prague and a trip to Hull, where you’ll see an opportunity to rotate and perhaps give Rice or another midfielder a day or two off. Hopefully all of these are enough minutes to give Zubimendi a little more confidence and I hope he takes his chance.
As we’ve seen time and time again, things can change dramatically, and very quickly, most recently this week. We’re going to need the whole squad, so I’m not worried about anyone’s season yet.
Hopefully we’ll get some sort of update on Saka’s injury when Mikel Arteta holds his pre-Everton press conference today. There won’t be an Everton preview on Patreon for this, but we’ll still have the usual Arseblog News when the boss speaks.
If you want to kick off the weekend with Ipswich Town v Nottingham Forest, there’s some Premier League action to sink your teeth into tonight.
Well go!