Archive September 13, 2025

Arsenal came into this season on the back of a busy summer transfer window where they spent around £250m and brought in eight players to propel another push for the Premier League title.

As they swept aside Nottingham Forest 3-0 with five of those new signings starting, the Gunners showed why such aggressive recruitment was justified.

Mikel Arteta’s side were without key trio Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and William Saliba through injury, while skipper Martin Odegaard limped off in only the 18th minute.

But it mattered little as Arsenal showed their strength in depth to cruise to an impressive success.

Viktor Gyokeres and Martin Zubimendi were their statement signings and likely to start regardless of the opposition.

But with Declan Rice named as a substitute, manager Arteta has ripped up his tier system for this campaign, where he had a number of players who were guaranteed starters and expected to play most of the games.

The physical demands on players and relentless schedule meant Arteta and the club decided they needed to bring in high-calibre players to ensure there was not a drop in quality during times like this.

Havertz has a knee injury that will keep him out for weeks, Saka has been unavailable since the 5-0 win over Leeds with a hamstring injury, while centre-back Saliba was withdrawn with an ankle problem in the defeat at Liverpool.

Midfielder Odegaard has had a shoulder problem and was again withdrawn against Forest after an awkward fall.

The absence of this quartet would usually be a cause for crisis at Arsenal, and injuries to their influential players last season was a major factor in why the Gunners fell away in the title race to finish second behind Liverpool and falter in the Champions League semi-final against Paris St-Germain.

While Arteta will be eager for those players to return, his side – led by impressive England duo Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze – proved they have the talent and options to cope and get results.

When asked about his summer recruitment, the Spaniard said: “If we wouldn’t have done that and, as you said, with the injuries that we have, unfortunately some of them are very difficult to control, we would have been in a very different place.

“We knew that that was the standard, that’s the standard of the other teams in the league in Europe, and you can see that.

“I’m very happy because it gives us options, it gives us the capacity as well to change games, it gives the capacity to have presence in the team, and now we have to make sure that everybody feels connected and important.”

Arsenal travel to Spain on Tuesday to face Athletic Bilbao for the first of their Champions League games this season and Arteta said that was another reason the club decided to invest.

“The players have to play 70 or 74 games throughout the season. It’s never been done,” he added.

“When the intensity was that high, they are not going to be able to sustain that. So you need more players, the standards have raised, we need better players and there’s no secret.”

It was a sentiment backed up by former Arsenal defender Martin Keown.

“That was a real scary show of strength from Arsenal, with the quality of player. You’ve been without Havertz, and Saka unavailable, and that was a problem for Arsenal last season, but not this,” he told TNT Sports.

“Madueke, Eze coming in today, both of them outstanding. Gyokeres, what about that second goal, so direct, forward pass. This man in the box, a real predator.

“The quality of the group, even this young man [Cristhian Mosquera] at the back, what a performance that was. His full debut at Arsenal, home game, outstanding.

Arteta’s front three of Eze, Gyokeres and Madueke had never played together before the Forest match.

Eze was making his full debut and capped it off with an assist for Gyokeres, while Madueke was arguably Arsenal’s best player.

“The new ones that started, five of them, I’m really impressed with them,” added Arteta.

“I think you can sense and feel that there are new relationships flourishing there that are going to give us different things.

“To become more unpredictable, Noni, I think he was exceptional as well.”

Madueke’s performance comes off the back of a week where he started both of England’s World Cup qualifiers and scored his first goal for the Three Lions in the 5-0 win over Serbia in Belgrade.

The 23-year-old beat Forest full-back Morato at will and following an injury to visiting centre-back Murillo, Ange Postecoglou swapped Neco Williams from the right to left side in an attempt to stop Madueke.

The stats back up Madueke’s impact too as he ranked first for chances created (5), chances created from open play (5), dribbles completed (4), and duels won (9) in a fine display.

The Gunners also directed 44.7% of their attacks down the right flank to get him on the ball and he was a constant source of danger.

“A lot of Arsenal fans were doubting the transfer and Noni Madueke looks in electric form,” West Ham and Crystal Palace defender Danny Gabbidon told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“He can go either way. He will go on his right as much as he cuts in on his left.

Noah Lyles says he is in the form of his life – but will it be good enough to retain his world 100m title?

On a blockbuster Sunday night in Tokyo, the men’s and women’s 100m finals are scheduled to start just seven minutes apart.

Saturday’s heats gave a flavour of what is to come, with a series of statement performances igniting the sell-out crowd at Japan’s National Stadium.

It was at the last World Championships in 2023 that showman Lyles asserted himself as the dominant male sprinter on the sport’s biggest stages with three golds in Budapest, before claiming the Olympic 100m title at Paris 2024.

Lyles had an injury-disrupted start to this season and his 100m season’s best of 9.90 seconds ranks 14th fastest in 2025, while he was comprehensively beaten by Jamaica’s Oblique Seville over the distance in August.

But, after qualifying for the World Championship semi-finals fourth fastest overall after winning his heat, the outspoken 28-year-old remained as self-assured as ever.

“I had a great start today but I had even better ones at practice. I know there is more in the tank,” said Lyles.

“This is the best form I have ever been in my life. I am bringing special things here. Running 9.95 in the first round is exactly what I wanted to warm up my body.”

His biggest threats could come from Jamaica.

While Seville demonstrated his superior form last month with that commanding win over Lyles at the Lausanne Diamond League, it is compatriot Kishane Thompson who holds the title of the fastest man in the world this year.

Should either Thompson or Seville triumph, they would become the first Jamaican man to win a global 100m title since Usain Bolt nine years ago.

Speaking on BBC One, four-time global heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill said: “Kishane Thompson looked phenomenal. The strength and power he had coming out of the starting blocks, his transition phase, he even slowed down massively towards the finish line. I think he’s definitely one to really watch.”

Meanwhile, Kenny Bednarek will believe he can keep the world title on American soil as the second-fastest athlete this year, with a best of 9.79 seconds.

That is so long as he remembers to bring his spikes, having forgotten to pack them when travelling to Tokyo.

“I am just a clumsy dude,” he explained.

“I have been focusing on so many things, I am the type of athlete that will always leave something at the track or forget something back home. It is just something that has always been like that. Friends and family help me out.”

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden has been the standout performer over 100m this season, clocking an unmatched 10.65 seconds in August.

Not only that, but the American has run the three fastest times in 2025, and five of the top six – interrupted only by Olympic champion Julien Alfred’s best of 10.75.

Those two athletes appear a class above their other rivals, but it is by no means a two-horse race.

“Melissa Jefferson-Wooden has been phenomenal all year. When you’re recording victories consistently, you’re just gaining confidence upon confidence,” two-time world 110m hurdles champion Colin Jackson said.

Jamaica have a trio of medal threats in the women’s event, with Tina Clayton the third fastest athlete this year in 10.81.

She is joined by the vastly experienced Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, contesting the final 100m races of her illustrious career in Tokyo, and Shericka Jackson.

Fraser-Pryce will retire following these World Championships and is hoping to sign off with a 25th and final global podium, 18 years after she made her first in Japan.

Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith, Daryll Neita and Amy Hunt each secured straightforward progression to the semi-finals.

Neita in particular shone with a season’s best 10.94, second only to Alfred’s leading 10.93 in the heats, and she will be determined to make her first individual global podium after finishing fourth at the Olympics.

On the women’s event, Ennis-Hill said: “Watching Julien Alfred’s form, she looked phenomenal. She is such a powerful athlete and she has the experience as well as being Olympic champion.

“She will be a tough one to beat but Melissa Jefferson-Wooden is going to obviously give her a run. It will be very close.”