The Bottom Line

Men: Arsenal's proposed 60 redundancies will not touch the academy, the women's setup, the community scheme or the coaching and performance teams, The Athletic reports. Merino says Zubimendi hurt his ankle in a challenge with him after the Leeds win. Arsenal go to Nottingham Forest on Sunday at 4.30pm, second on 12 points.

Women: Mariona Caldentey faces eight to 10 weeks out with a hamstring injury and Selina Cerci has had surgery on her knee. Slegers, two years in charge this week, says she sees light at the end of the tunnel.

Men

Academy, women's setup and community roles are outside Arsenal's 60 job cuts

The coaching staff, the men's and women's performance teams, the academy, the community operation, the Arsenal Foundation and security are all unaffected, with the consultation still running. The review behind it was carried out by Boston Consulting Group.

Merino says Zubimendi hurt his ankle in a challenge with him

Merino told Cadena Ser that it was a freak accident in the session after the Leeds win, said Zubimendi is fine and backed him to recover quickly. Arteta has said the session was for players who got few minutes.

Lille's Davide Ancelotti says the 3-0 scoreline was harsh on his side

Ancelotti told UEFA that his players did not deserve the result after conceding three goals in five minutes, and called Arsenal one of the best teams in the world.

Nottingham Forest v Arsenal is on Sky Sports Main Event at 4.30pm on Sunday

Arsenal travel to the City Ground second in the table on 12 points, with live commentary from Dan Roebuck and Adrian Clarke on Arsenal.com and the Arsenal app from 4.25pm.

Eze will mark his next goal with a celebration chosen by IShowSpeed

Eze lost a best-of-three EA Sports FC contest to the streamer and agreed a forfeit that combines Cristiano Ronaldo's siu, a bark, a badge tap and a knee lift.

Women

Mariona Caldentey faces eight to 10 weeks out, Cerci has had knee surgery

Slegers said the hamstring injury Caldentey picked up against Manchester City is a bigger one, with a rescan this week showing good healing. Cerci had been struggling before surgery to clean up her knee.

Also covered by The Athletic and Arseblog News.

Slegers says Olivia Smith is pain free and Reuteler is back fit after a pre-season problem

Smith had been managing issues in the background that the club chose not to make public, and scored in both of Canada's friendlies with Denmark. Reuteler needed a small intervention to get fit and missed weeks of pre-season.

Also covered by Arseblog News.

Slegers marks two years in charge and says she sees light at the end of the tunnel

Slegers was named interim head coach on 15 October 2024, became permanent boss in January 2025 and won the Champions League five months after that. Arsenal have not won in the league since the opening day.

Also covered by The Athletic.

Social

• u/SunpowerShortSqeeze on Reddit: Arsenal have scored 20 of their 21 goals this season in open play, 95 per cent, the highest ratio in the Premier League.
• u/RBT__ on Reddit: A Squawka stat doing the rounds: Odegaard has made more accurate passes into the penalty area than anyone else in the Champions League this season.
• u/Tugboat47 on Reddit: Merino's Players' Tribune essay, To the People Who Carried Me, on the family and coaches behind his career.
• Orbinho on Bluesky: The club statistician on the schedule: four days between Lille and Forest, then two days before the trip to Bayern Munich.
• now.arsenal on Bluesky: The only game Arsenal have failed to win in Myles Lewis-Skelly's last 15 appearances was the Champions League final.
• Nick Miller on Bluesky: The journalist argues Arsenal do not have to cut 60 jobs and should not, days after Arteta's new contract.

Podcasts

• Arseblog Arsecast, The Arsenal Podcast, Episode 897: On and off the pitch (1h 5m). Blogs and Andrew Allen on the 3-0 win over Lille, Arteta's team selection and his comments about Madueke and volume.
• The ArsenalVision Podcast, Arsenal's Stars Come On To Help Deliver Big Win Over Lille (1h 38m). Elliot and Tim on Ken Friar's passing, the Lille game, the rest of the Champions League fixtures, a Forest preview and the redundancies.
• THE NORTH BANK, Ep, 271 - Forest Preview (53 min). Holly and Stef look back at the Lille win and ahead to Sunday at the City Ground.
• Inside Arsenal with Charles Watts, Extra-time with James Benge - Madueke or Eze vs Forest + New look Saka (55 min). Watts and James Benge of CBS Sports on the Champions League week and the left-wing call at Forest.
• Up Gunners! An Arsenal Podcast by Tony Doe, Arsenal 3-0 Lille! Saka Shines, Saliba Photo Drama & Rocastle Typeface (3 min). A three minute round-up of the Lille win, Saka's impact off the bench and the squad photo.

On This Day

2019. Vivianne Miedema scored four times before the hour as Arsenal won 5-2 at Slavia Praha in the Champions League round of 16, Kim Little adding the fifth. Via The Arsenal Women Archive

2001. Thierry Henry scored both goals, the second from the penalty spot, as Arsenal came from behind to beat Panathinaikos 2-1 at Highbury in the Champions League group stage. Via Wikipedia

1999. Davor Suker scored twice in seven minutes and Nwankwo Kanu added a 90th minute fourth as Arsenal beat Everton 4-1 at Highbury, Lee Dixon having put them level. Via Wikipedia

1961. Paul Vaessen, who came through at Arsenal and headed the late winner at Juventus in 1980 that put the club into the Cup Winners' Cup final, was born on this day. A knee injury ended his career at 21.