Goalkeeper with most WSL clean sheets 2022? Arsenal Women’s Zinsberger, of course. by Michelle

Manu Zinsberger signed for Arsenal in May 2019 from German side Bayern Munich.  She was awarded the WSL Golden Glove Award in the 2021-22 season and she has kept 8 cleans sheet in the 2022-23 season so far.  There is much speculation around Arsenal goalkeepers at the moment, due to the imminent arrival of 29 year old Canadian international Sabrina D’Angelo.

No goalkeeper in the #BarclaysWSL registered more clean sheets in 2022 than @Manu_Zinsberger (13) @ArsenalWFC pic.twitter.com/Id1kDWgg5E

— Barclays Women's Super League (@BarclaysWSL) December 28, 2022

Let’s take a look at Zinsberger in action so far this season:

Marcus, Pete , Jim and Andy are here to preview that most wonderful time of year: FA Cup third round weekend, baby! 

While Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr debut descends into chaos, we hear about scores being settled at Stevenage vs Newcastle in 2009, Accrington Stanley’s war with the council, and Vinnyball at Burnley! Plus, some not-so-bright ideas from Crawley Town’s resident crypto bros and – as usual – Jamie O’Hara!

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Dotun and Andy are joined by Nicky Bandini to chew over the return of Serie A, where Napoli’s unbeaten run at last ground to a halt!

We discuss whether this is a sign of things to come as teams struggle to return to form after a World Cup and winter break. Elsewhere, PSG also taste league defeat for the first time this season – and Lens bossed it – and it’s a tale of three marquee strikers in Spain!

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Jules, Jim, Pete and Lars choose violence today - just like Newcastle last night.

They discuss Mikel Arteta’s latest touchline antics and Cristiano Ronaldo’s unveiling, where everything went to plan apart from forgetting which country he was in. Plus, crises galore! Everton and James Tarkowski head slide into their latest disaster, while Liverpool continue to labour and Antonio Conte continues to Antonio Conte.

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This weekend sees the return of perhaps the most enjoyable fixture in the English football calendar: it's the FA Cup third round!

Marcus, Luke and Jim are here with your definitive guide to the showpiece of the oldest cup competition in world football. From the tournament's unique traditions and quirks to some of its most celebrated moments and notable cult heroes, it's truly one of our favourite things in football. So point a glitzy Premier League team in the direction of your local mud bath, fetch a ball from the gardens over the road and join us! 

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Marcus, Luke, Jim and David kick off the new year with a slice of familiarity, as Antonio Conte continues to moan about a lack of Spurs signings while the rot sets in and Ivan Toney continues his goalscoring shithousery. 

Elsewhere, the David Moyes Gloom hangs over West Ham while Arsenal have one hand on the Premier League trophy - sixteen games in. Get the ticker-tape! 

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Marcus, Luke and Andy look ahead to a bumper weekend of Premier League action, as Nottingham Forest search for a striker down the back of the sofa and Erling Haaland picks up where he left off. 

Elsewhere, Emi Martínez is back for the revenge match that nobody wanted, while a former England manager has apparently been visited by the ghost of his father - have a guess which one. 

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Last night, we lost one of football’s true greats as Pelé passed away at the age of 82.

Marcus, Jim and Luke relive his legendary international career, his complicated relationship with Santos as he grew into football’s first global celebrity, and his lasting importance to football – and sport – itself.

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With the new year around the corner, it’s time to reflect, spend time with our loved ones… and suggest some of the worst format changes to football imaginable!

Marcus, Luke, Pete and Jim hammer out their new year's resolutions for football in 2023 and hear some of your suggestions! Piers Morgan banned from all sport, anyone?

Listen to our Guide To… Football’s Original Rules for more madcap ideas that *actually* happened. Believe us, the officiating has improved since 1863…

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Almost two years ago today, Norway international Omar Elabdellaoui went blind in a firework explosion.

11 surgeries and 13 months later, he returned to the pitch for Galatasaray. Kate catches up with him about his incredible journey since that New Year’s Eve in 2020 and how he is seeing football – literally – with new eyes.

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Jules, Andy and Pete douse their flaming Christmas puddings with some goals, more misguided footballer tattoos, and Manchester United tears...

They chew over the best of the Boxing Day football, where Spurs picked up from exactly the same confusing place they left off and Darwin Núñez proves for some that he is the second coming of Andy Carroll. Plus, a Newcastle fan embraces the real spirit of Christmas: wrestling with a child for Joelinton’s shirt.

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Eddie Nketiah earned a new long-term contract at Arsenal at the end of last season after some very fine performances for the Gunners.

That didn’t stop the club from signing Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City in the summer and the Brazilian has been the club’s number-one striker so far.

However, he was injured at the World Cup and could be out for up to three months as Mikel Arteta’s side seeks to maintain their lead at the top of the league table.

His absence is a massive blow to the Gunners, but it hands Nketiah a huge opportunity to show he is worth keeping as an alternative to Jesus.

The Englishman has done well in some Europa League matches this season. Still, he did not inspire much confidence in Arsenal’s mid-season games, exemplified by missing a sitter against Juventus.

In their big mid-season friendly, Arsenal was beaten by Juventus as they prepared for the return to league football on boxing day.

The Gunners were one of the in-form sides in Europe before the World Cup break, and they also did well in the Dubai Super Cup despite losing Gabriel Jesus to injury at the World Cup.

Fans had high hopes they would also secure at least a draw against Juve, considering the Old Lady was missing key players.

They used most of the players in their B team in the fixture, yet we could not score a goal in the fixture and lost 2-0.

There are so many lessons to learn from that game, and we could dismiss it as just a friendly. However, one thing we must take from the game is that we are still a work in progress.

Arsenal went into the World Cup break at the top of the Premier League table, which is a massive improvement from finishing fifth last season.

They will want to continue their good run of form in the second half of the season and these players could be crucial to any success. 

Gabriel Martinelli

Martinelli did not play much football for Brazil at the World Cup, but the attacker did well against Cameroon. His first half of the season was superb, and he will be a crucial attacker for Arsenal in the second half of the season.

William Saliba

Gabby Agbonlahor believes Eddie Nketiah has to step up and justify his new contract and the huge salary that comes with it.

The striker was given a new deal in the summer worth around £100,000 a week after he showed improved form in the second half of the season.

However, Arsenal added Gabriel Jesus to their squad in the last transfer window, and Nketiah has been struggling to play regularly.

But the Brazilian suffered a serious injury at the World Cup and will likely be out for around three months, offering the young Englishman a chance to show he can lead the line for the Gunners.

Agbonlahor says he has to step up and justify why he is earning such a huge salary. He tells Football Insider:

The January transfer window offers clubs an opportunity to add new players to their squad and prepare them better for the second half of the season.

Arsenal will need strengthening to continue staying at the top of the EPL table, and these players will help their chances if any of them are signed,

Mykhailo Mudryk

Mudryk has shown he is an exciting yet productive talent who can make things happen regardless of the opponent.

He will be a great backup to Bukayo Saka or Gabriel Martinelli.

Since the awful atmosphere that pervaded the Emirates a few years ago, Mikel Arteta has done a great job in repairing the broken relationship between the Arsenal fans and the team, and the crowd sound like they are right behind the team from even before the game starts nowadays.

The Arsenal defender Rob Holding has been at the club for six years now and has seen more changes than most of the players (excepting Xhaka maybe!) and he has been very impressed with the home crowd’s incredible support.

Rob also thinks that the Gunners appearance on the All Or Nothing series helped to bridge the gap with the fans, and also thinks that this new relatonship has been a great help in turning the ground into Fortress Emirates. Holding told Arsenal.com: “There has been a massive connection with the supporters over the past year and a half.

“The Amazon documentary we did last year helped with that I’m sure. It gave us some good publicity, and there’s a lot of positivity and energy around the place. You can see that in our performances and results, especially at home……”

Rob was then asked how he thought the recent atmosphere compared with his previous five seasons… “When I first joined we had some great moments, big games, late wins or whatever. It’s been wild before. The difference this year is that we are hearing it from the kick-off.

Arsenal Women boss Eidevall reflects on Champions League victory over Zurich by Michelle

Arsenal confirmed top spot in their Champions League group with a 1-9 away win over FC Zurich in Switzerland on Wednesday night. A hat-trick from Frida Maanum, a brace from Stina Blackstenius, a brace from Caitlin Foord and goals from Kim Little and Mana Iwabuchi secured a dominant win for our Gunners and was a great end to 2022. Jonas Eidevall spoke to the press after the match.

Jonas Eidevall is now in his second year with Arsenal and happy with our growth in the Champions League competition over the last year saying:  Last season’s experience was a factor and that is not only what is happening on the pitch but also off the pitch, where we are taking huge steps as an organisation. We are improving everything that we do all the time in the way we travel and have our logistics, so we are more and more time efficient and better prepared. All those small details also makes a difference in the end. Time is a factor, last season i was new to the club and now we are more settled and have experienced more things together and we are more mature as a team. That shows progress.

With Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema out for the rest of the 2022-23 season with ACL injuries, Maanum, Foord and Blackstenius got on the scoresheet.  Eidevall had this to say on player development and recruiting fire power: End product is important with forward players, I think it is important to develop existing players that we have. But that is one of the challenges of this transfer window that we need to recruit players that can give us end product because that is certainly one of the measurable factors that we have lost with those two players that we need to take into consideration.

On starting Leah Williamson in midfield…

My response to pundits who think Arsenal can’t live without Gabriel Jesus by Patrick S

“Gabriel Jesus is out for a while and that will be a big loss for Arsenal,” Mark Lawrenson told PP News. 

“I’m going to go for an upset here and go 2-1 to West Ham. All that momentum that Arsenal built up before the World Cup counts for nothing now because of the layoff.

I don’t really understand what Lawrenson was thinking when he made this prediction. Perhaps he seems to think that all of Arsenal’s success this season was down to Jesus and that without him, they’d definitely lose their way!

Now, I find such a claim absolutely wretched, especially coming from a man of Lawrensen’s experience. Arsenal are a team not blessed with superstars all over the pitch and it is hard to compare their players to the likes of Man City’s in terms of their individual quality. What they have in plenty though is togetherness, work ethic and a solid structure. That has not gone away.

Arsenal has been named as one of the clubs interested in Spanish talent Ivan Fresneda as he impresses for Real Valladolid in La Liga.

The Gunners have notoriously fished for talents in the Spanish top flight, mainly from Barcelona historically, and have turned most of them into top stars.

The likes of Cesc Fabregas and Hector Bellerin left Spain for Arsenal at a very young age, and the Gunners helped them to develop into Premier League players.

A report on Calciomercato reveals the latest in-demand Spanish talent is Fresneda, and several European sides are keen to add him to their squad, including Juventus.

However, the report says Arsenal is among the clubs leading the race for the Spain U19 international.