Arsenal

Pat Nevin
Former footballer and presenter

Image source, Getty Images

Arsenal are clearly favourites again for the Premier League title but they are right not to take anything for granted. The weekend's super-efficient dispatch of Fulham in the first half, certainly looked like the work of champions.

The mature swagger was back and so was Bukayo Saka. The importance of having the England winger in the team and at his best has never looked starker. It is not only what he does with the ball himself, it is what he does for team-mates‌.

Viktor Gyokeres looks a different player with Saka on the field and there are a few reasons for this. It is no surprise to say that strikers love wide players who provide chances with classy crosses, but Saka also stretches defences. It is not because he runs beyond them that often, but because they know how dangerous he is and they have to double up and over cover.

This leaves just a little more space for the strikers – and good strikers don't need a lot as Gyokeres showed with the opening goal. To be fair it was served up on a plate by Saka with more class than a royal state dinner.

One warning for Arsenal fans is that the league isn't theirs yet. Two of the past three games are away from home, against West Ham and Crystal Palace, these are not certainties.

Arsenal have drawn or lost eight of their 17 Premier League away games this season - and they have dropped points at Wolves and Nottingham Forest since January, other teams who were in the relegation dog fight. It is a long way from being over even if they are favourites.

Ben Collins
BBC Sport Journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Tuesday's celebrations included Mikel Arteta and his players joining hands and running towards each end of the Emirates.

Bradley Busch is a chartered sports psychologist who runs Inner Drive, a sports psychology training centre, and he told BBC Sport the collective celebration indicated a "very healthy team and squad mindset".

"The technical phrase that is used in research for this is known as 'emotional contagion', which basically says behaviours and attitudes and unity can spread and ripple through the team," he said. "One way you can do that is through celebrating together.

"On a more fundamental level, players aren't doing that to try to improve future performance - they're doing it because it's a sheer release of thinking and breathing about this stuff 24/7 and realising your goals.

"In what is such a high-pressurised environment I think it's really healthy for it not all to build up and bubble, and to celebrate on the pitch."

Busch added that anyone suggesting Arsenal's reaction was over the top "feels a bit like the old celebration police going on there".

"The nearest you can get to defining over-celebration is anything that negatively impacts the future performance," he explained.

"We sometimes see that with players and teams during the match - where they might think they have already won, which can lead to showboating or playing with much less intensity, or if it's interrupting the preparation for the next match. But this is a world away from that.

"As a Tottenham fan, I absolutely do hope it's a case of over-celebration - but that's more of my personal opinion than professional one!"

Read more on Arsenal's celebrations here

Scarlet Katz Roberts
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

Arsenal should celebrate. If there's one learning to be taken from the days between Saturday's victory over Fulham and Tuesday's against Atletico Madrid - it's that vibes are paramount.

For the majority of this season, Arsenal have been top of the table, soundtracked by endless talk of a quadruple or non-quadruple, unable to move for bottle memes. The sporting evidence would suggest it's been fantastic, but it's felt so hard.

I begrudgingly watched the Manchester City fans and players love every moment of their league cup victory as I shuffled out of Wembley. For a while after that, they seemed totally infallible, a giant blue behemoth blocking out the light. The importance of winning - of good feeling, particularly as energy fades - cannot be overstated.

I will never forget the Arsenal players streaming on to the pitch, Freed From Desire booming out around the ground. I'll never forget the fans drowning out Martin Keown before kick-off - sorry, Martin, but I'm proud of how loud we were.

It wasn't stage-managed, it was just joy - so hard to come by, but so simple.

Mikel Arteta has been searching for that sensation. On Tuesday, North London Forever suddenly lost its hackneyed ring and became a rousing anthem.

It's like the whole of the club and fanbase finally realised the sporting power of pure support.

Find more from Scarlet Katz Roberts at the Goal Difference podcast, external

Image source, Getty Images

Former Arsenal defender Matt Upson and ex-England goalkeeper Rob Green have been heaping the praise on Gunners academy graduate Myles Lewis-Skelly, saying that the 19-year-old "didn't look out of place at all" against Atletico Madrid.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta made the call to stick with Lewis-Skelly in midfield, in what was just his second start in that position for the first team.

"Everything I hear about this lad isn't about the footballer he is but about the character he has," Upson told BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily. "I hear really positive things about him being able to cope in really tough situations.

"He has a clear ability to rationalise things and deliver at every single level.

"It's exactly why he has already slipped into international football. You've got to have something a little bit special to be able to do that at his age.

"He has an amazing attitude and belief system, while also being able to absorb information. He is also just a genuinely nice person who wants to do well for himself and see the club doing well.

"When all of that is in the mix, you get a player who can step on to any stage and perform like he did against Atletico Madrid. He didn't look out of place at all."

Green added: "You have to give credit to Arteta in this instance too. He recognised it was a big game, big pressure, big players - and he made the call to keep £60m signing Martin Zubimendi on the bench.

"It was interesting he picked that specific moment for Lewis-Skelly. It might have been because something clicked in training or because of a gut instinct - whatever it was, it paid off."

Listen to the full podcast on BBC Sounds

Champions League analysts Stephen Warnock, Nedum Onuoha and Guillem Balague explain how Arsenal were able to "make life difficult" for Atletico Madrid in their semi-final second leg at Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners use of a man-to-man press high up the pitch forced Atletico to play the ball long, which favoured Arsenal's resolute defence.

Watch Champions League highlights and analysis on BBC iPlayer

Arsenal and Barcelona are interested in Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez, 25, though they face competition from Manchester City for the Argentina international. (Teamtalk, external)

Meanwhile the Gunners are planning significant player sales in this summer's transfer window despite banking more than £120m in Uefa prize money from their run to the Champions League final. (Sky Sports, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Thursday's full gossip column

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

Former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock on Match of the Day: “It is very difficult to look past PSG as winners in Budapest. They are so strong in every area. The only weakness I really see in the team is their goalkeeper.

“One of the issues Arsenal will have is trying to contain the PSG full-backs. That means asking Saka and Trossard, who will probably be on the wings, to contain the full-backs and stick with them, and also go the other way and attack them as well.

“Saka and Trossard will have to do both sides of it, something we know that PSG's full-backs can do, so that is going to be very difficult for Arsenal to contain.”

German football journalist Raphael Honigstein: “I think PSG are clear favourites. I think they are ahead of Arsenal in the overall balance, in all areas. Gyokeres is so far behind what this team has even at his very best. The balance they have at the back, PSG are the better side.”

Ex-Premier League striker Chris Sutton: “It's interesting the way people have viewed Arsenal in recent weeks, people think the wheels were coming off. But they are a very capable team. But PSG have shown they can defend as well. It's a fascinating final. I think Arsenal have a real chance, it can be a 50-50 game. Arsenal are capable on their day.”

Image source, Getty Images

You might have heard the small news of Arsenal reaching the Champions League final for just the second time in the club's history.

Well let us transport you back 20 years to 2006, the last time the Gunners reached the final two. Myles Lewis Skelly wasn't born nevermind Max Dowman. Declan Rice had just joined Chelsea's academy and Mikel Arteta was completing his first full season in English football winning Everton's Player of the Season award.

At the time, you might have been rating your top eight mates on MySpace. Maybe you had UK number one 'Crazy' by Gnarls Barkley playing on your iPod Nano in the build-up to Arsenal's 2-1 defeat to Barcelona at the Stade De France.

This time, Gooners will be flying to Budapest for the 2026 final. For an in-flight film, can we recommend The Da Vinci Code or Mission Impossible 3, both of which were box office hits from May 2006.

What will you find in Budapest? I'm reliably informed from a colleague who has visited the Hungarian capital that one side of the Danube River is Buda, the other Pest. Google will tell you Buda is "residential" and Pest is "vibrant", so head there for your refreshment.

On that note, expect to eat gulyas (goulash), langos (fried dough), chicken paprikas, and Dobos torta. Unicum - described as a herbal liquer - is apparently the tipple of choice in local bars.

Although London's Underground is the oldest in Europe, Budapest boasts the oldest underground system in mainland Europe. Fans will be swapping the Picadilly Line to Arsenal for the Puskás Ferenc Stadion on the M2 Red Line.

Budapest is also regarded as one of the most haunted cities in the world.

Some 20 years ago, the title of Gnarls Barkley's tune - 'Crazy' - summed up the haunting nature of Jens Lehmann's red card.

Alas, much can go wrong on the big occasion. Arsenal fans will dream that Budapest, the Danube and the spirit of Hungary will carry them to their greatest night.

How many trophies do you think Arsenal will finish the season with? Make your choice here

Image source, Getty Images

BBC Sport football correspondent John Murray, speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast on Arsenal's Champions League semi-final win over Atletico Madrid:

"It was fiercely competitive. It was intense, edgy, there was no quarter given.

"You could have spent the night watching the sideshow that is Diego Simeone and the way he was trying to urge his team on to find that little extra something that might have made the difference.

"But, I think Arsenal over the two ties did edge it. Last night was what we would consider now to be a copybook Mikel Arteta performance and clean sheet. 1-0 to the Arsenal.

"Against Fulham in the first-half on Saturday I saw Bukayo Saka perform in a way he hadn't for quite a while. He didn't have a night like that last night. However, he contributed the only goal and made the difference in that regard.

"It just feels like all of those doom-laden fears about where Arsenal were going that we have seen over the past month or so, with what has happened over the past few days, are just starting to melt away.

"As soon as April turned to May, the win against Fulham gave them confidence, then came Manchester City's draw on Monday in the title race to put the title in their hands. Then on Tuesday they put in that performance and reach the Champions League final.

"It feels like all the reports of Arsenal's impeding decline were extremely exaggerated.

"They have a shot now at proving they are the best team in Europe."

Listen to the full chat from 1hr20 on BBC Sounds

Image source, Getty Images

Former Arsenal defender and Double winner Lee Dixon says the Gunners can now put their Champions League hopes "into a cupboard for a little bit" and "focus on winning the league".

Mikel Arteta's side secured safe passage through to the final at the end of May with Tuesday's win over Atletico Madrid and will now play their final three league games knowing maximum points would secure the title before they travel to Budapest.

"It was special," Dixon told BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast.

"I hadn't been to a Champions League game in a while because I don't usually work on them but I got invited to be in the posh seats so I went with David Seaman and we just sat there and drank it all in.

"The club went to big lengths to build an atmosphere before the game and then I've not heard the crowd like that for a long, long time. It was a really special night.

"They played super well, they were on the front foot, they stifled Atletico and they deserve to be in the final. They haven't lost a game yet.

"From a player's point of view, the Champions League can now be put into a cupboard for a little bit and they can now focus on winning the league.

"It is a totally different style, the pace is different, so they can switch their mind back to the league now. If you gave a team the fixtures of Fulham, West Ham, Burnley and Crystal Palace as their final four in a title run-in, they would not be able to snap your hand off quickly enough.

"It's all there for them. They have done the first bit. The way they played last night and forced the game is something that should be right at the front of their minds. They have better players than the teams they are playing so if they force the game they should win."

Listen to the full chat from 08:25 on BBC Sounds

How many trophies do you think Arsenal will finish the season with? Make your choice here

Chris Howard
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

There are moments for a football fan in your life in which you have an instant mental 'bookmark' that you can make based on a result.

On Tuesday night, with the best atmosphere I have ever experienced at the Emirates stadium, those Arsenal players gave us fans another 'bookmark' moment.

I was one year into my first job when this feeling came around last time.

Here I am 20 years later, able to re-live it, and that is a special feeling.

It was not a vintage Arsenal performance – it didn't need to be – but it was one that was all about the occasion.

And credit to Mikel Arteta and those players, they showed no signs of wilting under any kind of pressure at all. Instead, they harnessed the energy from the crowd, who showed up in their droves from 5.30pm to greet the team bus at 5.45pm. And the atmosphere just cranked up by every minute until the full-time whistle blew.

I haven't seen the concourse rocking like it was inside the ground a full 35 minutes before kick-off.

I haven't heard 'North London Forever' being sung with such gusto (they didn't even play the whole song, they let the home crowd go acapella). At half-time throughout the concourse the noise went up again, then at full-time there was barely an empty seat in the house. And all over the world, there will be Arsenal fans who have their latest 'bookmark'.

History has been made. We know nothing is won yet, we know there could still be heartbreak both domestically and in Europe that awaits, but these are fears for another day.

Today we have only delight. Arsenal are on their way to the Champions League final.

Find more from Chris Howard at Suburban Gooners, external and the Same Old Arsenal Podcast, external

Alex Howell
Arsenal reporter

Image source, Getty Images

After Manchester City dropped points at Everton, the Premier League title race is now in Arsenal's hands.

It is only two weeks since Arsenal suffered back-to-back defeats in the league, but after finding a way past Atletico as well as having a five-point lead at the top of the table, momentum is fully behind them.

"Where this club has come from over the last few years - things that hurt you as a player," said Declan Rice, alluding to Arsenal's three successive second-placed finishes in the league.

"The manager has taken full control. We have kept building - we have kept pushing each other.

"This competition and the Premier League. We have gone full throttle. We have found ourselves in a good position with less than a month to go. Sunday now is a massive one."

• Tell us how many trophies you think Mikel Arteta's side will win

Arteta made the big call to keep 19-year-old Myles Lewis-Skelly in midfield for just his second start in that position for the senior side, in a campaign during which minutes have been hard to come by for the youngster.

Striker Viktor Gyokeres, who scored twice at the weekend, also played a massive part in Bukayo Saka's winning goal and his performance was one of the best since he has been at the club.

Rice, who has been one of Arsenal's standout players this season and was awarded the player of the match honour against Atletico, believes the Gunners have now "turned a corner" and are back to their best.

"We went through a stage where we weren't performing at our best. We were a bit sloppy in our play, but we have found a new way to play again," he said.

"When you have got confidence in football it is everything. I know everyone is focused."

Arteta has been trying to transform Emirates Stadium into a hostile environment as he looks to make the most of any marginal gain he can to bring silverware to north London.

With many saying it was the best atmosphere they have heard inside the ground, all that is missing is trophies to match the fans' feelings.

"That box is ticked, but now we're going to the level that I think a top club that wants to be fighting consistently for the highest trophies [needs]... and we have to maintain it," added Arteta.

• Read the full article

Image source, Getty Images

We asked for your thoughts after Tuesday's Champions League game between Arsenal and Atletico Madrid.

Here are some of your comments:

Daniel: What a performance, Viktor Gyokeres has done the number 14 shirt proud today. Every single Arsenal supporter in the stadium, it was the best I've heard it in 35 years supporting the club. Now to concentrate on the league!

Will: A complete team performance. Myles Lewis-Skelly showed such maturity for a 19 year old. Gyokeres was immense, running the channels and making life difficult for Atletico's defenders. Declan Rice is at the top of his game and Bukayo Saka is slotting them in. The final awaits us, onwards and upwards The Arsenal.

Ned: Massive credit to Mikel Arteta. Playing Myles Lewis-Skelly was a huge gamble that paid off handsomely. The manager has adapted his approach in the past week just as Arsenal were becoming a bit too predictable, and teams are having to react to that. They dominated Atleti over the two legs and blew Fulham away. West Ham next. If they win that, I believe they will win the league.

Rachel: The shackles of anxiety have been released. Arsenal were able to play with more freedom, we have our talisman back and anything seems possible. It's not done!

Lachlan: Incredible evening, I have not seen the Emirates like it! Huge shoutout to Declan Rice and Viktor Gyokeres, they were both unplayable. Onwards to Budapest!

Harry: Not the prettiest victory, but persistence paid off. Not only did the players give their all on the pitch, but so too did all the fans in the Emirates stadium. Great result.

Matthew: A mature performance from Arsenal. Not flashy, not chaotic, just controlled. Against a side like Atletico, that's exactly what you need.

Image source, Getty Images

After reaching the Champions League final and seeing Manchester City drop points in the Premier League title race, Mikel Arteta wants his side to use the momentum they have created to go one step further and secure silverware.

"Everybody can feel a shift in energy, in belief, in everything," the Arsenal boss said.

"Let's use it in the right way and understand that the margins and the difficulty of what we are trying to achieve are huge, but we have the ability and the conviction to do it."

After beating Atletico Madrid 2-1 on aggregate, Arteta said they have "made history again together" and praised the support at the Emirates.

He explained: "The atmosphere, our support has created the energy, the way they managed every ball with us, they made it special and unique, I never felt that in the stadium."

The manager was however keen to lavish praise on his players, stating "it's down to them" to deliver performances, regardless of how much clarity and conviction he gives them.

"It's an incredible group of players and staff," Arteta added. "In elite sports, in football in particular, you can live a really difficult day, but if you can work it, maybe you get rewarded, and we certainly did in the last few weeks."

Former Arsenal defender Matt Upson believes Mikel Arteta's side are "good enough" to win the Champions League this season, having reached the club's first final in the esteemed competition in 20 years.

"The 2025-26 season has changed for Arsenal yet again," Upson said on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily after the final whistle. "All of a sudden, the mood has been uplifted from being really concerning.

"The players will actually start looking forward to the rest of their Premier League fixtures now. There was a sense of dread building up to it, but it should be more excitement-based now."

Image source, The Mirror

Upson, who won six trophies during his time at Emirates Stadium, added: "Arsenal have to believe they are at the elite table now. They are good enough to go on and win this competition.

"This group can definitely do it and these are the kinds of moments that really feed that belief.

"You do have to cultivate that feeling of being one of the best teams in Europe, it doesn't just happen, and winning football matches against top teams certainly helps."

Image source, The i Paper

When asked who he would prefer his former side to face in the Budapest final, Upson replied: "I don't think there is a 'better option' between Bayern Munich and Paris St-Germain.

"It is the Champions League final so whoever you're playing it is going to be the most challenging game you could possibly think of.

"Luckily the players can now sit back, watch the other semi-final unravel, and have a good look at the team they are going to face in the final."

Image source, Daily Express

Listen to Football Daily on BBC Sounds