Martin Odegaard showcased outstanding form as Arsenal secured victory against Burnley this afternoon, earning praise from Ian Wright and numerous Arsenal supporters.

Odegaard has consistently been a stellar contributor to the Gunners’ success this season, exemplified by his role as the club’s captain.

In the match against Burnley, the Norwegian maestro once again controlled the midfield, posing significant challenges for Arsenal’s opponents throughout the game.

Burnley struggled to contain most Arsenal players, with Odegaard particularly standing out for his tactical acumen and his ability to provide essential service to his teammates, enabling them to continue posing a threat to their opponents.

Impressed by Odegaard’s performance, Wright couldn’t contain his admiration and took to Twitter to express his thoughts, stating: “Odegaard has been so good,” accompanied by five clapping hands emojis

Arsenal has emerged as one of the most in-form clubs in Europe this year, and the statistics behind their stunning run have been unveiled.

Under Mikel Arteta’s guidance, Arsenal secured a resounding 5-0 victory against Burnley, marking another instance where they scored at least five goals in consecutive games. This second half of the season stands in stark contrast to the previous campaign, where they experienced a loss of momentum at this stage.

The impressive win against Burnley has propelled Arsenal to score an astounding 21 times in their last five matches. This goal-scoring spree is noteworthy for a team that faced struggles in front of the net in preceding seasons.

Journalist James Benge, closely monitoring Arsenal’s remarkable form tweeted after the Burnley victory:

“In their last five games, Arsenal have given up shots worth 1.7 expected goals.

Mikel Arteta has expressed his delight in working with his current group of players, highlighting their exceptional commitment and ability to secure victories consistently.

In the latter part of the previous season, Arsenal struggled, losing momentum in the title race, and their form suffered a significant dip, ultimately leading to them missing out on the title.

This season, the team has learned from those mistakes, demonstrating improvement at a crucial stage rather than seeing a decline in their performance levels. The players’ commitment has notably eased Arteta’s responsibilities, and he is impressed by their conduct in games, acknowledging how they make his role as their coach more manageable.

After the game, he was asked about Arsenal’s stunning start to 2024 and said to the BBC:

“Individually and collectively, the purpose they are playing with, the form the players are in, even at 3-0 4-0 they want more.

Who among us has not handed $50,000 cash in a shoebox to a purported undercover CIA agent in an SUV with tinted windows because a fake FTC investigator told us to?

Well, I haven’t. Nor do I have a stray $50,000 to give. Still, a February 9 report from the real Federal Trade Commission reveals that the saga Charlotte Cowles describes with painstaking detail in her recent viral essay isn’t entirely unique. 

In fact, consumers reported losing more than $10 billion to fraud last year, the FTC said. It’s the first time fraud losses have reached the double digit billions, and marks a 14 percent hike over losses in 2022.

Investment scams made the top category of fraud, with people reporting losses exceeding $4.6 billion. Imposter scams, such as the one Cowles fell victim to, was the second-highest money loser with reported losses nearing $2.7 billion.

To summarize Cowles’ experience—which you really should read for yourself—the financial-advice columnist lost $50,000 to an elaborate con in which a phony Amazon customer service imposter called her about fraudulent charges for iPads on her non-existent business account. After clearing up that she didn’t purchase tech products, the faux-Amazon employee offered to connect Cowles to a supposed FTC investigator, who informed her that her identity was connected to bank accounts that had wired more than $3 million overseas, and that a car rented under her name was found with blood and drugs inside. He said there were warrants out for her arrest. Cowles would need to immediately give a CIA officer $50,000 cash from her compromised bank account, which the government would kindly convert into a Treasury check that her family could live on for up to a year until all of this identity fraud nonsense was sorted out.

At a televised White House press conference Friday, President Joe Biden rebuked the Kremlin for insisting that leading Russian dissident Aleksei Navalny simply lost consciousness and died after taking a stroll in prison.

“Make no mistake: [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death,” Biden said. “Putin is responsible. What has happened to Navalny is yet more proof of Putin’s brutality. No one should be fooled, not in Russia, not at home, not anywhere in the world.”

Navalny had been incarcerated in a high-security prison at an Arctic penal colony known as Polar Wolf on extremism charges widely believed to be politically contrived. Known as the country’s most outspoken critic of Putin and his United Russia party, Navalny had returned to Russia from Germany after receiving treatment there in 2020 for poisoning by a nerve agent called Novichok, which was developed by the Soviet Union. Upon re-arriving in Russia in 2021, Navalny was immediately arrested and subsequently sentenced to 19 years in prison.

“We don’t know exactly what happened,” Biden added, “but there is no doubt that the death of Navalny was a consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”

Speaking to reporters, Biden said Navalny’s mysterious death reinforces the need for Congress to put together an aid package to help Ukraine continue fighting Russia’s invasion. 

Bukayo Saka has notched a brace in each of his last two matches for Arsenal, and the forward expresses his hope to achieve a hat-trick soon. As a pivotal player for the Gunners, Saka has showcased significant development in becoming a more clinical player this season.

His two-goal performance in the victory against West Ham was followed by another brace against Burnley today. Saka’s growing reliability is evident, highlighting his potential to play a crucial role in Arsenal’s pursuit of success in the league or Champions League this term.

After the victory, the attacker told the Arsenal Media:

“I’m really pleased. 

“I’m enjoying my football, but obviously I need to keep focused. But yeah, of course I’m happy to score two, two weeks in a row and hopefully the third one will come soon.

Following Arsenal’s 5-0 victory against Burnley this afternoon, Kai Havertz disclosed that the team puts in significant effort to maintain their form. Despite challenges from Liverpool and Manchester City, Arsenal continues to destroy opponents, with Burnley being the latest victim.

Watching Arsenal play has become a source of joy, as the team consistently displays a stylish performance in all their league matches since the beginning of the year. While the fans relish their victories, Havertz emphasised that achieving such results requires a substantial amount of hard work behind the scenes.

The German told Premier League Productions:

“I think we are in a good moment. Won all of the games so far this year. It feels good but behind all of that was hard work. There are many more hard games to come, the next one’s on Wednesday in another competition. 

“We have to continue that hard work. We wanted to start the game very well, we lacked that a bit at West Ham. The early goal was very important for us. We scored another couple of good goals and we’re happy with the win.”

Chris Sutton was impressed with Arsenal’s win against Burnley this evening and praised them for keeping the Premier League title open.

Liverpool had defeated Brentford earlier in the day to move five points clear of Mikel Arteta’s men, and the Gunners needed to win to remain close to the top.

Mikel Arteta’s men have been fantastic in 2024 and were understandably confident ahead of the game.

They made another quick start by scoring inside the first four minutes to show their intent, and Burnley never recovered from going behind that early.

Arsenal showed yet again that they are a team that everyone should respect as they went on to score four more goals, and Sutton said on BBC live:

Arsenal secured a 5-0 win against Burnley this afternoon, staying two points behind Liverpool and keeping their title hopes alive. The Gunners had scored nine goals in their previous two games before the match against the Clarets and started the game with full intent. They took the lead just four minutes into the match, marking yet another fast start from the lads, who cannot be stopped at the moment.

Burnley continued to struggle and received more yellow cards than clear-cut chances before Arsenal doubled their lead through a Bukayo Saka penalty. It was the perfect first half for Mikel Arteta’s men, who went into the break having to do very little defending against Burnley.

Two minutes after the restart, starboy Saka extended Arsenal’s lead with a delicious strike into the top corner. Burnley’s main attacking threat was Datro Fofana, who posed problems for Gabriel and William Saliba on some occasions with his physicality and speed, but Burnley did not look like the hosts.

The Clarets soon conceded a fourth from a well-worked Arsenal move finished off by Leandro Trossard. Despite substituting Saka, Trossard, and Ben White, Arsenal continued to dominate, and Kai Havertz put the icing on the cake with a fifth for Mikel Arteta’s men.

Arsenal won yet another game on the road in emphatic fashion, making Liverpool and Manchester City aware that this will be a very tight title race.

Arsenal embarks on a journey to Burnley with the aim of securing three crucial points to sustain their title challenge. Mikel Arteta has unveiled the lineup he believes can clinch the victory.

𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎

Unchanged from last time out

COME ON YOU GUNNERS!! pic.twitter.com/6oo3HkXYdx

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) February 17, 2024

The divisive nature of football by Ben Dungate

More than ever, I am noticing the divisive nature of football and the effect it seems to have on ordinary people. The historical violence football has incited will long live in the memories of those that witnessed it first hand, or grew up during the era where barely a weekend went by where the news wasn’t filled with scenes of police battling with ‘fans’ in the street, with tear gas and Molotov cocktails passing in mid-air, both sides embroiled in a war neither partly really understood.

In today’s society, thankfully, outbreaks of this nature are very rare, at least in the West of Europe. However, despite the streets no longer being littered with the fall-out of such events, the seedy underbelly of fanatical football support still lives, only now it is mostly hidden away online in the comments sections of football forums and fan sites, where no one is safe even from their own fans. Dare to cast aspersions on a particular favourite and the metaphorical firebombs are instantly launched from all sides. Because in today’s ultra tolerant society, intolerance reigns supreme.

A differing opinion is met with scorn and sarcasm, and occasionally with a well-thought out erudite counter argument; but only very occasionally. Fans cannot and will not stand for a view that doesn’t align with their own and will die on a hill for their chosen one.

But it doesn’t need to be this way. What is wrong with considering how an opinion was arrived at before declaring it to the world? How about pausing before writing that reply – to really assess what you’re writing and why you’re writing it. By all means engage in polite debate with your fellow supporters, because when conducted appropriately and in the right manner fan forums are tremendous places where some truly insightful people share their deepest thoughts on the team, the players, and the game in general.

It’s matchday and Emirates will be bouncing! Arsenal Women v Manchester United WSL match kicks off at 12.30PM UK today, at a SOLD OUT Emirates Stadium.

A historic match for Arsenal Women – selling out the Emirates Stadium for the first time in their history – and a new WSL attendance record to boot!

Arsenal & Manchester United are as hungry as eachother, for the possible 3 WSL points up for grabs today, which should make for a magnificent game of football! I want to see our Gunners on fire today – I hope they come out with ALL GUNS BLAZING!

You can watch all the action live on SkySports Main Event or on the FA Player.

Here is Eidevall’s starting XI for this historic match:

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

Raw sewage and runoff in the Tijuana River is exposing communities at the US-Mexico border to an unusual and noxious brew of pathogens and toxic chemicals, according to a report released this week.

Billions of gallons of sewage flow through the river, which winds north from Mexico through California and empties into the Pacific Ocean, containing a mix of carcinogenic chemicals including arsenic, as well as viruses, bacteria and parasites, according to public health researchers at San Diego State University, who published the report.

The researchers have called the situation “a pressing public health crisis.”

Wastewater flowing into the ocean has resulted in more than 700 consecutive days of beach closures in San Diego county, but the contamination isn’t limited to the water. Pollutants and pathogens contained in sewage have also been detected in the local air and soil—exposing even those who live miles away from the water.

Earlier this week, Meta decided to create the grandest of Gordian knots for itself when Adam Mosseri, its executive in charge of Instagram and Threads, announced that the company doesn’t want Threads to “proactively amplify political content from accounts you don’t follow”—in effect, announcing the company hopes to limit how “political” content is spread and shared. 

Given the boundless and ill-defined nature of politics, his plan seems nearly impossible to implement. Mosseri did not say the plan was to tone down “content involving electoral politics,” or even something as vague as “turning the volume down on toxic politics.” He referred only to leashing the vast but vague category of  “political content.”

Billionaire Mark Cuban did ask Mosseri on threads what Meta means when it says “political content.” But Mosseri never replied. When CNN’s Oliver Darcy pressed the company, he received a written reply: “Informed by research, our definition of political content is content likely to be about topics related to government or elections; for example, posts about laws, elections, or social topics,” with the caveat that “global issues are complex and dynamic, which means this definition will evolve.” 

In effect, Mosseri was asking users of Threads to stick to dumb posts—nothing that would, actually, have to be moderated. It reminded me of the edict at the old Deadspin to “stick to sports.” Jim Spanfeller, the CEO of the blog’s new parent company, demanded that of staff, telling them to not write about politics. Apart from bad business, it quickly didn’t make any sense. Sure, you can write a story about Tiger Woods without contextualizing what it means for a Black man to dominate the whitest sport, but it would be stupid. And the only way to avoid politics in writing about the scandal that ensued when the then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted in support of the Hong Kong protests would be not to write about it at all.

The cynical read is that politics being ill-defined is the point. Anything annoying for them to deal with, that could even tenuously be described as “political,” can be contained by limiting its algorithmic boost.

This story first appeared on Meduza, an independent, reader-supported Russian newsroom based in Latvia.

Officials in the Kremlin’s political bloc see Alexey Navalny’s death as “a very negative development” — for Vladimir Putin’s reelection campaign. At the same time, members of the Putin administration do not expect the opposition politician’s demise to seriously affect the results of next month’s tightly controlled presidential vote. 

This is according to two sources close to the Putin administration, one source close to the leadership of the ruling United Russia party, and a Kremlin political strategist, all of whom spoke to Meduza on condition of anonymity. (It should be noted that these are typical remarks regarding any events that may affect the course of Putin’s reelection.) 

Asked to comment on Navalny’s death, two of the aforementioned sources gave extremely cynical responses, saying that the opposition politician “knew what he was getting into when he returned to Russia” in 2021 and that he was “punished for working against the country.”

At the same time, both sources believed that Navalny wasn’t “purposefully” killed, instead attributing his death to poor prison conditions. “Did you expect anything else? It was bound to happen sooner or later,” one said. 

A New York judge ruled on Friday that former President Donald Trump must pay $355 million and cease doing any business in New York for three years after being found liable for years of deceiving banks and insurance companies about his net worth. While Trump has said he will appeal the decision, if the ruling stands, it would potentially obliterate his financial resources. What’s more, it comes on top of an earlier decision by the same judge to revoke Trump’s license to operate businesses in New York. Between the payments and the license revocation, Trump’s business career would likely be in serious jeopardy, at least in the state of New York. But, with an appeals process that is expected to last several years, his fate is far from settled. 

The decision, issued by New York Superior Court judge Arthur Engoron, is the result of a civil fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. James accused Trump of telling banks and insurance companies that his assets were worth far more than they really were in an effort to get better deals on loans and insurance policies. Among other falsehoods, Trump told banks was that condos in New York were worth tens of millions on the open market, when in actuality they were rent-controlled and unavailable to sold, and that his Mar-a-Lago resort was worth hundreds of millions or even as much as $1.5 billion, when in reality, because of deed restrictions, it would likely be worth just a fraction of that. 

Over the course of several months this past fall, Trump’s attorneys wrangled with James’ legal team, and just as often with Engoron, bitterly denying Trump had done anything wrong. But the fact that Trump was liable for the fraud was never really in question throughout the trial—after Trump’s team largely failed to address any of James’ accusations directly, Engoron ruled before the trial even began that Trump had indeed acted fraudulently. The trial essentially was to determine exactly how much Trump would owe for his fraudulent behavior. James’ called a string of witnesses, including former Deutsche Bank employees, to testify that they would never have given Trump such good terms for loans and insurance policies. Trump and his attorneys continually maintained that Trump had paid his creditors back and had paid his insurance policy bills, so there was no effective harm done. 

The trial was especially notable for the clashes between Trump and Engoron. After Trump repeatedly used his social media account to complain about Engoron’s clerk, the judge issued a limited gag order prohibiting the former president from denigrating courtroom staff. When Trump violated the order—twice—Engoron fined him and eventually forced Trump to testify. Engoron ruled Trump’s testimony on the subject was “not credible.” Trump later lashed out against Engoron when he returned to the stand to testify in the trial, and at one point he stomped out of court, Engoron refused to dismiss the case. None of the theatrics seemed to help the former president. The case also named Trump’s adult children and a number of his top employees at the Trump Organization.

In the past, former President Donald Trump has promised a consensus on abortion, criticizing Republicans for being too stringent but without getting more specific. 

According to a report published in the New York Times this morning, Trump has landed on a limit that he thinks will do the job: a 16-week abortion ban. 

Citing “two people with direct knowledge” of Trump’s thinking, the Times reports that the former president “privately favors” a 16-week ban with exceptions for rape, incest, and to save the life of the mother. (It is unclear whether that means only cases of rape or incest reported to law enforcement.)

Abortion is already banned before 16 weeks in 20 states, so the national ban Trump is reportedly considering would, if enacted, likely further restrict it in another 30 states that currently lack such a limit. (Though the majority of abortions—nearly 94 percent—take place before the 13-week mark, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)

The paper reports that Trump sees that limit as one that can appeal to both social conservatives who want harsh abortion bans as well as voters who want more modest rules. 

Jurgen Klopp has acknowledged that a lot of people believe his Liverpool side could lose to Arsenal.

The Reds will visit the Emirates for the crucial fixture tomorrow, and it is a match that Arsenal cannot afford to lose.

While the Gunners historically struggled in matches against Liverpool, there has been a notable shift in recent times, evident in their draw against the Reds at Anfield in the reverse fixture. Additionally, Arsenal did not lose to Liverpool in the league last season and emerged victorious at home. The question now arises: can they repeat this feat?

The confidence in Arsenal’s potential is bolstered by their recent victory against Manchester City at the Emirates. Klopp is actively preparing his team to secure a win, aiming to maintain their comfortable position at the top of the league standings.

However, even the German knows winning will be tough and says, as quoted by The Sun:

Bukayo Saka is widely regarded as one of England’s beloved footballers, resonating with many for his commendable character and amiable demeanour. His significant contributions to both Arsenal and the England national team, coupled with consistently impressive performances on the pitch, have established him as a key player.

As Arsenal’s primary attacking force, Saka holds a pivotal role and is routinely among the first names on the team sheet for any game. Despite his positive attributes, Saka has encountered a disheartening trend of being subjected to boos from opposition fans, particularly in away matches.

This behaviour has elicited frustration from Arsenal legend Ian Wright, who finds it perplexing and unwarranted. Wright contends that the goodwill and exemplary character displayed by Saka merit admiration rather than derision.

Speaking on Wrighty’s House, he said: “Everywhere he goes. Everywhere he goes, it’s just horrible.

“He’s like one of the nicest people. I get upset about it.”

Arsenal legend David Seaman expresses confidence that the Gunners have the potential to make a significant statement with a noteworthy result when they face Liverpool this weekend.

Mikel Arteta’s team currently trails behind Liverpool in the league table, and a victory for the Reds at the Emirates tomorrow could potentially diminish Arsenal’s aspirations for the title.

Despite a subpar conclusion to the year 2023, Arsenal has commenced the current year with two consecutive league victories, fostering optimism as they prepare to confront Liverpool.

Seaman backs Arsenal to produce a positive result in the forthcoming game, potentially reshaping the narrative surrounding their title aspirations.

He said, as quoted by Metro Sport: