Welcome to our football.london The Arsenal Way daily news round-up. Maybe not the first, we've definitely done transfer round-ups before, and European round-ups, so I guess in some ways it's not that new at all. Anyway, we thought we would enter the world of football in a broad and roundabout manner for you and have some fun with some of the stories and captions doing the daily rounds.
Balogun eyes second bite of the cherry
Florian Balogun netted twice as Arsenal Under-23s waltzed past Chelsea in a rampant 6-1 win to extend Per Mertesacker's unbeaten streak to five games.
The 20-year-old striker struggled acclimatising to life in the Premier League having been thrown in the deep end on the opening day against Brentford, however he has since found his form and is eyeing a second bite of the cherry under Mikel Arteta.
Balogun scored twelve goals across 26 games last season for the first-team and under-23s, two of which came in the Europa League.
Arteta has yet to see his strikers truly find their form this season, so should the Hale End striker continue to show his worth in the academy the Arsenal boss may hand Balogun a second chance sooner rather than later.
Odegaard finds his feet
Martin Odegaard revealed that a good connection with Emile Smith Rowe on the pitch has ignited a friendly relationship with the 21-year-old off it.
The two have often tuned into the same frequency and understand each others movements, despite the Norway captain's arrival seemingly hampering Smith Rowe's progression pathway.
"I think we already have a good connection on the pitch," he said, telling Stadium Astro. "We are getting along really well, on and off the pitch, because everyone is young, with time, it will get better and better.
"And hopefully, we will get to know each other more and understand where each player wants the ball. I feel that will improve.
“But I already feel that we have a great connection. Hopefully, it will just get better and better.”
Saliba shows Arteta why he was wrong, again...
WIlliam Saliba put in another resolute and assured display for Marseille over the weekend as the French side climbed into Champions League territory with a 2-0 over Rennes.
The 20-year-old centre-half has gone from strength to strength while on loan at Marseille, leaving Arteta to rue his decision in letting the France youth international leave despite having labelled Saliba as 'not ready'.
Jorge Sampaoli's side have now kept two clean sheets in each of their previous pair of clashes against like-minded opposition, Rennes and Monaco, who are also eyeing European qualification finishes.
Marseille sit second in Ligue 1 with a game in hand sitting just five points behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain.
Arteta out of his depth despite win
Arteta has been sent a scathing assessment of his time at Arsenal by Garth Crooks, despite the Spaniard picking up successive Premier League clean sheets with a 1-0 win over Burnley.
The BBC Sport pundit claimed the Gunners boss is out of his depth at London Colney, alluding that Arteta is being saved by the wealth of talent at his disposal.
Crooks wrote on BBC Sport: "The problem for the Gunners is they look miles from where they really should be right now and the biggest culprit seems to be the manager.
“Mikel Arteta appears out of his depth. He has talented players at his disposal and on occasions against Burnley they showed it. However, it was a set-piece that dug him out of a hole.”
