Penguin Gooner

Penguin Gooner@momspaghetty

☆☆☆☆☆★★★★★6 May 2026

Four stars are for the historic result, the immaculate vibes and the deafening atmosphere in and around the Emirates, although I appreciate a neutral wouldn't be so lenient. Hats off to Arteta for sticking with the same XI that saw off Fulham and it paid dividends. The highlight for me is that we finally seem to have found the way to unlock Gyokeres: have him physically batter his marker throughout the game (Pubill was lucky to avoid a red) and then quickly, directly thread him in either channel with a punchy forward pass from deep to get us up the pitch and bring our other attackers into play. A great example of this was the Bastoni-esque ball from Saliba into the Swede that lead to the only goal of the match. Both Saliba and White have both seen creative resurgences lately, with Trossard also putting in another blinder. MOTM narrowly goes to Rice, though, who was the king of the midfield with 4 tackles, 3 recoveries, 5/6 duels won and more good build-up. To Hungary we go!

Penguin Gooner@momspaghetty

☆☆☆☆☆★★★★★18 Apr 2026

One of the all-time Champions League matches, made all the more special by the fact my brother is an Inter fan and saw it live at the San Siro. I didn't think they could top the first leg, but somehow they did. How Yamal didn't score a single goal in this match baffles me, but Sommer was having the night of his life in fairness. Dumfries was immense. Acerbi was colossal (17 defensive contributions). I don't need to wax lyrical about Yamal any more than I have but 14 dribbles is otherworldly.

Penguin Gooner@momspaghetty

☆☆☆☆☆★★★★★11 May 2026

Commentator Jim Proudfoot accurately described this as "a game of moments rather than genuine quality". Most of the match came and went like a blur, but we came out the gates with the promise of a good match, with a suffocating Arsenal start miraculously not resulting in an early lead. The White injury changed the mood after half an hour, with Arteta opting to shift Rice over to RB to cover for him. All credit to him for quickly identifying and rectifying this mistake, first by subbing on Mosquera at RB, then by bringing on Ødegaard and Havertz, most notoriously subbing off previously subbed-on Zubimendi. The creative malaise slowly dissipated as our captain raised the standards in the press and assisted our much needed opener, amidst a couple of dangerous West Ham chances either side of half time. Inevitably the discourse will concentrate on the disallowed goal in stoppage time but ultimately there should be no controversy: it's an obvious foul and the correct decision was reached.