Arsenal

Nicola Pearson
BBC Sport journalist

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has been speaking to the media before Wednesday's Champions League game against Inter (kick-off 20:00 GMT).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Arteta confirmed that they will assess Martin Odegaard to see if he can play a part tomorrow, but Declan Rice has picked up a foot injury and won't be available.

• On captain Odegaard's return: "The positive news [is he is back], Martin, it is great to have him back. He trained with us for the first time today. He felt good, he’s a bit earlier than expected. But it’s great to have him here and we will decide if we use him tomorrow."

• On Rice's injury: "Declan unfortunately picked an injury against Newcastle. He was able to finish the game but he wasn’t feeling good the last few days [with his foot]. We’ll have to assess him on Thursday and see if he’s ready for the weekend."

• Arteta said the situation with Edu resigning "happened very quickly" but continued: "I loved working with him. I really enjoyed being alongside him in this incredible journey, from day one we have been together. I’m very grateful personally for everything he’s done for me and for the football club."

• He added: "I think we both had this special chemistry working together, both really enjoyed our roles and working together. I’m very blessed that he’s been part of my life managing this incredible club and he’s been a massive part of that. He’s had an amazing opportunity now to do something else in a different role. He feels that’s the right move for him. We have to respect that."

• On if this will effect the progress the club has made: "The plan and vision that start with the ownership is going to continue. We have a very strong leadership team. We have great know-how and passion for the football club so we’re not going to stop where we are at the moment. The passion, excitement and understanding of where we want to take this journey remains intact."

• He said they are in an "incredible moment" and "blessed" to be where they are, despite all the tests they are having with injuries and Edu's resignation.

• On Bukayo Saka having the captain's armband: "People admire him, people respect him, they want to be next to him. He has capacity to inject positivity in people. He has a particular way of smiling. He’s one of our leaders right now. He’s earned that status in the team right now."

Image source, Getty Images

Midfielder Declan Rice has not travelled with the Arsenal squad to Italy and will miss Wednesday's match against Inter Milan.

In more positive news for the Gunners, captain Martin Odegaard has returned to full training after two months out with an ankle injury and did travel with the squad.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is set to speak to the media later on, so come back to this page for all key lines.

The New York Times' Rory Smith believes Edu has not left Arsenal as a result of a fallout, but believes the Brazilian wanted to move somewhere he could have "more impact and more influence".

Smith spoke about how he thinks the Gunners are now a club "shaped by Arteta" and the impact of Edu's role is reduced because of this.

Meanwhile, former Premier League goalkeeper Shay Given thinks Edu's departure "is a bit of a rocket for Arsenal" and that "from the outside it looked like the perfect match".

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Arsenal have identified 25-year-old Newcastle United forward Alexander Isak as their top transfer target, although the Magpies would demand a fee of about £100m for the Sweden international. (Teamtalk), external

Edu is set to take up a role within the network of clubs controlled by Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis, after resigning as Arsenal's sporting director. (Times - subscription required), external

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta will have a major say in how the club replaces Edu as sporting director. (Telegraph - subscription required), external

Want more transfer news? Read Tuesday's full gossip column

Former midfielder and 'Invincible' Edu has left his role as sporting director at Arsenal and we asked you to have your say on the news and how it might impact the team.

Here are some of your comments:

Eric: Gutted. He has been great working in tandem with Arteta and had seemed fully committed to the club. What next for Arteta? Hopefully he won't be tempted away. Edu is going to be difficult to replace.

Vince: Like all good businesses, there needs be a rapport between key staff, so that the right hand always knows what the left hand is doing and act accordingly, and visa versa. This feels like severing one of those hands. Time will tell if the replacement limb, or system, works just as well. Mind you, it's not like we've won a string of titles with Edu.

Grant: Arteta should be leaving. He's a coach, not a manager. He's not a winner, he's a sparring partner. Edu has brought some exciting talent and shall be a big loss.

Tony: Not really concerned. Why? Because he has forgotten there are many fine English players in the Premier League at 'junior' level. Signs of slight weakness and the cheque book is out. We need to progress more of our own junior players too. He has done a fine job but no-one is irreplaceable!

Eden: I think it will be a blow. However, at the moment, we only need to focus on what's happening on the pitch. Arteta and Arsenal can draw in players based on their names alone. If Manchester United can get big names, we definitely can.

Sim: What happens behind the scenes has real impact on performance. When David Dein left, that was a great loss for Arsene Wenger and fed down into match performance. I don't want to see the same happen with Edu, but maybe it helps in part to explain recent performances.

Keith: Edu has always been a great asset to Arsenal, maybe he is being made the scapegoat for recent shocking performances? If he was responsible for letting Emile Smith Rowe go and letting Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz in then, for me, he had to fall on his sword.

Image source, Getty Images

Arsenal sporting director Edu has said it was a "special journey" with the club after resigning from his role.

After reports emerged the former Gunners midfielder was set to leave the club, it was confirmed in a statement by Arsenal on Monday.

Edu had rejoined them in the role of technical director in July 2019, before he was promoted in November 2022, overseeing the men's, women's and academy football.

"This was an incredibly hard decision to make," the 49-year-old said.

"Arsenal have given me the opportunity to work with so many amazing people and the chance to be a part of something so special in the club's history.

"I've loved working with so many great colleagues across our men's, women's and academy teams, especially Mikel, who has become a great friend.

"Now it is time to pursue a different challenge. Arsenal will always remain in my heart. I wish the club and its supporters only good things and all the very best."

Since returning to the club, he has helped oversee their transformation under Mikel Arteta into FA Cup winners and Premier League title challengers.

Arsenal co-chair Josh Kroenke added: "We respect Edu's decision and thank him for his immense contribution and dedication to drive the club forward.

"Everyone at the club wishes him well. We are all so fond of him and the positive energy he brings to everything and everyone.

"Change and evolution is a part of our club. We remain focused on our strategy and winning major trophies. Our succession plan will reflect this continued ambition."

Image source, Getty Images

BBC chief football writer Phil McNulty has been answering fan questions on all things Premier League.

Reeza asked: Are Arsenal really in a crisis? It has been 10 games but they have played Tottenham, Manchester City, Aston Villa and Newcastle away and Liverpool at home, losing only to Newcastle. Surely it is just a blip?

Phil answered: They lost at Bournemouth as well. It is far too early to say Arsenal are in crisis, but it has undoubtedly been a tough couple of weeks with those defeats.

I do agree with you that they have had a pretty tough opening sequence of fixtures and will be on the up again once Martin Odegaard returns. I am certainly not writing them off, although Manchester City's loss at Bournmouth will have been a relief because an eight-point gap to the champions would have been difficult.

My main question about Arsenal is that lack of a regular 20-goals-a-season striker. I wonder if, as the season goes on, manager Mikel Arteta will regret not addressing that in the summer.

But crisis? Think they are a fair way from that.

Read more of Phils Q&A here

Laura Kirk-Francis
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

What constitutes a crisis? Back-to-back poor results? Below-par performances? Injuries to key players and replacements not up to standard?

All of these could be true of Arsenal at the moment.

Whichever way you look at the past few weeks since the international break, Arsenal are going through a difficult period - including the disappointing 2-0 loss at Bournemouth and the lacklustre performance against a well-drilled Newcastle United.

Right now, the vibes are not good. And the performance at St James' Park on Saturday was worrying on many levels.

For over a decade, Arsenal have worked hard to shrug off the idea that they are soft and easy to bully. Fans are still haunted by the thrashings experienced at the hands of Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United in the not-so-distant past.

Saturday's scoreline was not quite such a disaster, but the performance was. It was the type of display fans had hoped Arsenal no longer had in the locker - technically poor and lacking in the fight needed to get past a good side in a fierce atmosphere.

To make matters worse, on Monday fans were waking up to reports that sporting director Edu is to leave Arsenal. The reasons for his rumoured departure are not yet clear, but the timing is far from ideal.

"Crisis" might be too strong a term for some fans. It is still only November and, with Manchester City also faltering at the weekend, the route to the title could look very different from previous seasons.

Arsenal still have a very talented squad capable of much more than they are producing at the moment.

Put simply, Arsenal have played themselves into this crisis and now they must play themselves out of it.

Find more from Laura Kirk-Francis at the Latte Firm podcast, external

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Across the opening three matchdays of this season’s Champions League, the two players who made the most high-intensity pressures were Internazionale’s Mehdi Taremi and Arsenal’s Kai Havertz (211 each). For Havertz, he also made the most specifically in the final third in this period (92).

Image source, Getty Images

We asked for your thoughts after Saturday's Premier League game between Newcastle and Arsenal.

Here are some of your comments:

Newcastle fans:

Craig: The performance the fans have been waiting for this season. We controlled the game with and without the ball. Seemed confident to play the ball out from the back, creating space out wide. Fully deserved win. Will enjoy this one for a while.

Jack: Unbelievable performance from the whole squad. Defended incredibly well and played some great football. Confidence is just starting to come back. Well worth staying up watching it in New Zealand.

Dave: Superb performance, every duel won. Hunting in packs without the ball, intelligent when in possession, relentless pressing. Newcastle in this form and at SJP are potentially the toughest fixture of the season.

Cliff: An all round performance but this time we took a chance and we never looked like conceding which is exactly the type of team we want to be. Yes it’s great to win 5-3 but a solid midfield and defence is of the utmost importance. One-nil to the Toon sounds great and may there be many more of them, with the occasional goal fest. This game is the blueprint.

Arsenal fans:

Julien: Changes made too late today, with not enough cohesion and I think other teams are sussing out our game play. We need to be more dynamic and creative, especially considering our injuries. Not enough fight, their mindset needs to shift dramatically to have any chance of winning the title.

Pete: Probably the poorest performance of the season. Very little in the way of creativity - perhaps Nwaneri should have played from the start. Little support for both Saka and Martinelli apart from allowing them to run at the Newcastle defence in the the hope of a breakthrough. Only time will tell if it’s a bad patch or something more serious.

Richard: That's the title challenge over. It's been a stuttering start for Arsenal and it just hasn't clicked. Losing Odegaard has been huge. It's a third or fourth finish now. Time to focus on a domestic cup for a trophy. No chance in Champions League either.

Savs: A dreadful and lacklustre display. Once again the ball was moved too slowly allowing the Newcastle team to get into a defensive shape. Our only point of attack appears to be Saka, but Hall played him superbly. In defence we were too passive and Newcastle played through our press with one touch passing. Something we appear incapable of. A bad day!

Alex Howell
BBC Sport football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Arsenal are not commenting on the reports that sporting director Edu is set to leave the club.

We are working to verify the story elsewhere but there is no official word from the club.

Edu has played a key role in Arsenal's recruitment and became the club's first sporting director in 2022. The former Arsenal midfielder joined the club in 2019 as technical director.

How concerned are you by the reports, Gunners fans? What impact could the former midfielder's potential exit have on the club?

Let us know, external

Former West Ham manager David Moyes and ex-Premier League midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker spoke on the BBC's Football Daily podcast about the possible reasons behind Arsenal's three-game winless run in the Premier League.

Reo-Coker: "Martin Odegaard is a big miss for them because he orchestrates everything they do. I'm not saying they're a one-man team, but when you have a player than can be so influential in controlling the flow of a game, that's not something easily replaced.

"And I still personally believe that they're missing that striker."

Moyes: "The one thing I would always say is the manager knows better than anybody else. He knows what it's like on the training ground, how the players are performing and if it works.

"Mikel will know that if Arsenal need a striker, I'm sure they will get one.

"But it's easy for people in the media and supporters to say 'we need a new striker' - actually finding one at the moment is so difficult. The Lewandowskis, the Lukakus, the people who were known for lots of goals, they're getting to the end of their careers. At the moment there are fewer strikers stepping up.

"Odegaard makes such a difference to how Arsenal play and playing against them in the last few years, Odegaard was always the one that was a real problem to deal with.

"Mikel will look at it and say they have to win games without this one player, because he could lose him again for any reason. Even when you bring him back after a semi-lengthy injury, you might not expect him to be right back at his best straight away.

"Mikel will find a way and I think Arsenal will be very close [to the title] again. They've got a top team."

Listen to more analysis on BBC Sounds

Arsenal are lining up 24-year-old West Ham United and Ghana winger Mohammed Kudus as a £90m replacement for 29-year-old Belgium forward Leandro Trossard, who is being targeted by Saudi Pro League side Al-Ittihad. (Mirror), external

Want more transfer news? Read Monday's full gossip column

Gary Lineker introduces highlights and analysis from Saturday's seven Premier League fixtures.

If you missed Match of the Day, you can catch up now on BBC iPlayer.

Listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Liverpool 2-1 Brighton

• Wolves 2-2 Crystal Palace

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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has also spoken to Premier League Productions after today's game:

"We deserved to lose today. I thought we started really well and were really dominant. We didn't defend the box well enough. Credit to them. They scored a great goal with a good ball.

"Then the game changes and you start to play a different game. You have to adapt and we didn't do that well enough. I am very frustrated.

"We got dragged into a game they are looking for constantly and we couldn't play the game that we wanted.

"We had two big chances - Mikel had a big one, Declan had a big one. We lacked answers."

On reacting to the defeat: "We can say whatever we want. We will struggle to find the words today. We have to show it on the pitch on Wednesday night.

"You have to be at your best every time to give yourself a chance to win".