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:

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.

William Saliba’s return by Dan Smith

If Mikel Arteta feels the need to rotate his squad due to three games in 8 days this festive period, then fine.

If our manager wants to play Rob Holding on to Boxing Day and save William Saliba for the two (on paper) tougher fixtures, okay.

If he wants to protect Saliba from the yellow card which would rule him out for the trip to Brighton, that makes sense.

What I don’t want to hear is that our defender is unavailable this Monday due to a ‘rest’.

Andy is joined by Nicky Bandini and French football expert Jonathan Johnson to unpack an undoubtedly dramatic finale to the 2022 World Cup.

While all the talk is about Lionel Messi’s legacy, what does this final mean for Kylian Mbappé? They also explain why Zinedine Zidane seems to have been left so miffed and discuss their players of the tournament! 

But before all that, what’s the future for Morocco after a sensational run? And we remember a footballing great.

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Jules, Luke and Jim convene at Ramble HQ with just one more sleep before the most exciting day of the year: the World Cup 3rd/4th play-off!

We hear your suggestions for replacing this fixture - including an Gianni Infantino vs Florentino Perez pillow fight. Speaking of which, Gianni’s been in front of the mic again and we re-launch a competition of our own: it’s Moore vs Breach in Jack’s Encyclopaedia!

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Marcus, Luke and Andy react to last night’s second semi-final, where Morocco threw the kitchen sink at France. But Antoine Griezmann is so adaptable he’s also probably a plumber now.

Elsewhere, the studio is split over how France and Argentina will match-up, we discuss whether the next England manager should be English, and we determine just what kind of dessert the third-fourth play-off is. 

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Dotun, Andy and David relive an extraordinary night for Lionel Messi and Argentina as they thwacked Croatia to reach the World Cup final.

While Messi summons the spirit of Zinedine Zidane in 2006, we discuss how Lionel Scaloni and the supporting cast have turned things around since defeat to Saudi Arabia.

We also explain why Portugal’s match-up with José Mourinho is a terrible idea and we preview the big one tonight! Can Morocco do it?

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Now the dust has settled on another England exit, Jules, Luke and Andy reflect on the future of Gareth Southgate, England and – most importantly all – Dave the cat. STOP JACK, HE’S NOT A LOAF OF BREAD MATE!

We assess the reasonable and absolutely ridiculous options to replace Southgate and turn to our first semi-final: Argentina vs Croatia! If Lionel Messi is done with Wout Weghorst, that is…

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Marcus, Luke, Jim and Pete reflect on a heartbreaking night for England that both bodes well for the future and summons some very familiar ghosts of the past.

And bloody hell, Morocco! We ask whether they can ‘Greece it’ and go all the way.

Pete’s Film Club is back! Sign up for weekly episodes throughout the World Cup and much more here: patreon.com/footballramble.

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Dotun and Andy are joined by Nicky Bandini to look over a pair of cracking quarter-finals, as Croatia's gnarly persistence got the better of Neymar n co - the favourites are out! 

Elsewhere last night, Louis van Gaal bows out with typical good grace after their loss via judges' decision to Lionel Messi’s security team. We also look ahead to Morocco vs Portugal and pay our respects to the legendary Grant Wahl.

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Marcus and Luke are here for a special England vs France preview ahead of tomorrow! They discuss how Kyle Walker and co could contain Kylian Mbappé, why Gareth Southgate absolutely has to lift the handbrake, and the less than ideal presence of Robbie Williams in the England camp.

Plus, our favourite correspondence ahead of the game! Listen in for all you need to know ahead of the big one tomorrow night.

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It’s the business end of the World Cup, people! Marcus, Jim and David look ahead to two crunch quarter finals today.

Louis van Gaal has been dishing out more kisses as his squad gear themselves up for Argentina and Lionel Messi – who may or may not soon be banned from Mexico – while Brazil have more dance routines (and stray cats) ready for Croatia! Will it be two upsets or a titanic South American semi-final match-up? Listen in to find out what we think!

The Campaign Against Living Miserably - CALM - have teamed up with Declan Rice to show that no one deserves to struggle on their own. They’ve launched a new film that shows that you don’t have to be alone to feel alone. We’re here to let you know that, however you feel right now, you’re never alone and CALM are always on your side.

Visit thecalmzone.net to find out more about it.

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