TAGS: bukayo saka, ethan nwaneri, transfer deadline day
Two games, two wins, two clean sheets. Bukayo Saka slid in the only goal on the hour at Villa Park, and Arsenal saw out a scrappy night without ever looking like conceding. Six points from six, second on goals.
It wasn't good. The first half was turgid and the final third was blunt until the substitutes arrived. But away at Villa, in a reduced-capacity ground with the North Stand shut, you take the three points and don't ask questions.
Saka now has two league goals in two games. He signed as a schoolboy in 2018 and he's still the one who decides these evenings.
An analysis piece on The Athletic makes the case that Eberechi Eze's impact off the bench on the left is exactly why one more attacker is needed before the window shuts. I'd go further. When your best attacking moment of the night comes from the bench, that's a squad the shape of the fixture list demands, not a luxury.
Which brings us to deadline day. Ethan Nwaneri is off to Dortmund on a season-long loan, medical and all, after half a season at Marseille where he played 11 times and scored twice. He's 19, he's contracted to 2030, and he's fallen behind. Sending him to the Bundesliga rather than letting him rot on a bench is the right call.
Fábio Vieira's move to Hamburg is done, €10m, back to a club he already spent a season at on loan. Thirty-one games, seven goals, six assists there last term. He was never going to get near this midfield.
Malick Fofana looks like he's going to Sunderland instead. Arsenal were weighing it up on Monday. That one's gone.
Arsenal Women are closing on Elisa de Almeida from PSG, a 28-year-old centre-back who can fill in at right-back. Depth in the back line before a Champions League campaign is sensible business.
Mikel Arteta reached 250 Premier League games at Villa Park. Nearly seven years in December.
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