Arsenal Women rounded off pre-season with a 5-1 win over Charlton at Meadow Park, and Olivia Smith made it a personal highlight by getting on the scoresheet after her PFA Young Player of the Year season.
Charlton actually led through Lucy Fitzgerald before Arsenal turned it around. Georgia Stanway equalised, Mariona converted a penalty just before the break, Kyra Cooney-Cross added what by all accounts was a screamer, and Smith's late finish put a flattering gloss on the scoreline. Ona Batlle returned from concussion to start at left-back, which is worth filing away given the season proper starts against Brighton this weekend.
Smith spoke afterwards about wanting the side to come out "with really big attacking threat this season," and on this evidence Renée Slegers has options up front even without her first-choice XI fully sharpened.
On the men's side, the housekeeping story of the last 24 hours is the Carabao Cup draw. Arsenal, last season's beaten finalists, travel to Ipswich Town in the third round, a tie sandwiched awkwardly between league trips to Sunderland and Brighton in mid-September. Given the club haven't won this competition since 1992/93, that record isn't going to fix itself against a newly promoted side away from home, but it's hardly a fixture to fear either.
The Julian Alvarez situation is still rumbling, and it's getting messier rather than clearer. Barcelona's Joan Laporta says the club remain "very interested" in the Atlético forward, which sits awkwardly next to Arsenal's own reported £130m interest from earlier in the week. Real Madrid are apparently sniffing around too. Three clubs circling one striker usually means the price only goes one way, and I wouldn't be shocked if Arsenal end up priced out of it entirely.
Worth a read, if you've got ten minutes, is The Athletic's piece on Christos Tzolis, tracing his route from PAOK through Club Brugge to the winner's performance against Coventry last weekend. He's arrived with a reputation as a set-piece specialist and a bit of a dressing-room character, and early signs suggest both are true.
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