A Manchester City fan has gone viral for drinking out of an Arsenal-branded bottle during today’s 3-0 win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
With Arsenal suffering a surprise defeat at home to Bournemouth yesterday and Man City winning away to Chelsea today, everyone is sensing a familiar story coming in the final few games of the season.
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Although the Gunners remain six points clear of City, they are in poor form at the moment and have a history of slipping up late on in title races.
Manchester City fans sense Arsenal are bottling it
City fans are clearly pretty confident that their rivals are bottling it, with Arsenal surely set to be the butt of this joke for a long, long time if they don’t manage to see this title race through…
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 12, 2026
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The initial video of the fan quickly went viral on social media, and this led to a later shot, also from Sky Sports, of him seeing the reaction online!
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 12, 2026
City play Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium next weekend in what will surely prove a hugely decisive moment in this title race, with Mikel Arteta and his players perhaps needing to take a look at this and let it motivate them to ram it back down their doubters’ throats.
It’s not easy to get over the line when you haven’t done it for such a long time, whereas this City team and their manager Pep Guardiola are serial winners.
Leeds United have reportedly been among the clubs to enquire about the situation of Brighton goalkeeper Carl Rushworth ahead of the summer.
The 24-year-old is currently on loan from Brighton at Championship leaders Coventry City, and he’s done well there as Frank Lampard’s side close in on promotion to the Premier League.
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It remains to be seen what this will mean for Rushworth’s future, with Coventry surely eager to keep him once they go up, but it seems Leeds have asked about a potential deal, according to TEAMtalk.
Leeds could do with a new goalkeeper, and Rushworth looks like a player with a big future at this level, though it could also depend on what happens with Brighton’s current number one Bart Verbruggen this summer.
Could Carl Rushworth get a chance at Brighton?
Rushworth has never actually played a single competitive minute for Brighton, and is now in his sixth loan spell away from the Seagulls.
However, Verbruggen’s future looks to be in some doubt after his impressive form, so it may be that manager Fabian Hurzeler soon needs to bring in a replacement.
Rushworth could be ideal, so perhaps there’ll finally be that role there for him once his loan with Coventry comes to an end this summer.
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A recent report from talkSPORT claimed Tottenham were keen on Verbruggen, so that could be one to watch in the weeks and months ahead.
Still, if Brighton manage to keep hold of Verbruggen then that surely shuts out Rushworth again, and could potentially pave the way for Leeds or someone else to snap him up.
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Meanwhile, it’s understood that Woltemade remains a player on Bayern’s list after they notably missed out on signing him last summer when he instead moved from Stuttgart to Newcastle.
The Germany international started brightly for the Magpies earlier this season, but his form has tailed off a bit, leading to growing talk that he could move back to the Bundesliga.
Bayern will likely be one of his main suitors, and it will be interesting to see if that could lead to a double raid on NUFC for Gordon as well.
Difficult summer ahead for Newcastle
It was a difficult summer for Newcastle last year as Alexander Isak left for Liverpool, and we’re seeing plenty of similar transfer rumours at the moment.
Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali are also attracting interest from Europe’s elite, so that could be a worry for Eddie Howe and co.
Gordon is also likely to be tricky to keep hold of, but at the same time it’s hard to imagine Newcastle would sell all three of those star names.
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Bayern’s long-running interest in Woltemade could also be useful as that would likely be a fairly big sale that would mean less pressure to cash in on those other big names.
Bayern surely don’t need Anthony Gordon
It’s also worth noting that Bayern don’t really need someone like Gordon as a priority this summer as they already have so much quality in attack.
Michael Olise is having the season of his life, while Jamal Musiala, Luis Diaz, and Serge Gnabry are also all playing some fantastic football.
Gordon might want to leave Newcastle to challenge himself at a higher level, but there’s also surely little sense in him moving to somewhere like Bayern if he’s only going to warm the bench.
The former Everton youngster would surely get more of a key role at a club like Arsenal, with the Gunners in desperate need of an upgrade on Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard.
Nine points clear at the top of the table with six games left and Arsenal fans are booing their team off the pitch at the Emirates Stadium – of course there’s more context to it than that, but it’s a useful reminder that the Gunners mustn’t overreact.
There will inevitably be talk of Mikel Arteta’s future as Arsenal manager now. Since everyone has more or less already decided that the club are going to bottle it and finish trophyless again, it stands to reason that the next question is over the manager and if his project has ran out of steam.
Except, the season isn’t over yet, so let’s pause, take a breath, and take a moment to look a little closer at Arsenal’s situation.
Gooners are sure they have been through this exact scenario before, but every season is different, and even if finishing second three years in a row can start to feel rather similar, there was only one ‘bottling’ in that three-year run, and even then it was arguably only a serious William Saliba injury that saw Manchester City’s treble winners overtake them.
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Is the Arteta sack talk justified? Here’s five reasons we think Arsenal need to stick with him…
Title still in Arsenal’s hands
So, to start by stating the obvious, Arsenal’s season isn’t over yet. Far from it. We’ll get to the Champions League in a moment, but firstly let’s remember that the title is still in their hands.
Manchester City face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge later today – in just a few hours’ time they may well have dropped more points to keep Arsenal’s lead intact.
It’s also far from a given that Man City beat Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium next weekend. Pep Guardiola’s side desperately need the three points in that one, but have only won one in their last seven games against the north Londoners, having drawn their last two meetings against them at the Etihad.
After that, it’s unpredictable – we’ve seen both of these sides drop points in games you’d have expected them to win this season, so anyone backing City to go on one of their lengthy winning runs of old probably hasn’t seen them play much this term.
Arsenal’s remaining Premier League games
Manchester City (A)
Newcastle United (H)
Fulham (H)
West Ham United (A)
Burnley (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
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Bournemouth a tougher fixture than it looks
It’s easy to forget just how tough Arsenal’s schedule has been this season, in what is generally considered to be one of the most competitive Premier Leagues we’ve had.
So, when Bournemouth went into yesterday’s game having had 22 days of rest since their last game, while Arsenal were playing their third in a week, is anyone that surprised that Arteta’s men looked comparatively slower and less sharp?
Of course there can’t be too many excuses in a title race, you’ve simply got to win games like this, but slip-ups also happen even to the best teams, and this was an underrated mid-table side who have played good football all season long, and who will likely pick up more points against the big teams before the campaign is done.
Meanwhile, their manager Andoni Iraola is becoming widely recognised as one of the top coaches in the game, and there’s every chance he’ll be in the frame for jobs like Manchester United and Liverpool if they decide to change manager this summer. Perhaps he’ll even be leading Man City’s next title challenge if Pep decides to call it a day.
This has been a theme for Arsenal all season, and while everyone might be sick of hearing about it, it doesn’t make it not an issue.
Yesterday against Bournemouth, Arsenal lined up without: Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Jurrien Timber, Riccardo Calafiori, Mikel Merino, and Eberechi Eze and Piero Hincapie were only fit enough to start on the bench.
Arteta has had some critics for over-using certain players and not rotating enough, and that may well have led to the dip in form of someone like Martin Zubimendi, but most players at top clubs will be well aware that they’re expected to perform at the very highest level every few days. This simply hasn’t been the case for Odegaard and Calafiori in particular, and there are a few other members of this squad who are clearly injury-prone in a way that makes it impossible to just pin the blame onto the manager.
Champions League semi-final appearance likely
Arsenal won 1-0 away to Sporting Lisbon just a matter of days ago, becoming the first team to win at the Portuguese giants’ stadium since August. They were the better team for the most part, and it has to go down as an excellent result.
Barring a disaster in the second leg, Arsenal are now surely though to the Champions League semi–finals for a second season in a row. For those getting misty-eyed about the Arsene Wenger era and all the pretty football those teams played, it’s worth remembering that this is a club that has NEVER made consecutive Champions League semi-final appearances, and that will have made precisely HALF of their appearances at this stage of the competition under Arteta.
Hiring a manager is difficult, so if you’re going to sack one of the best in Europe you’d better be sure you’re getting an upgrade.
Who is there? Guardiola isn’t joining and almost certainly never will. Jurgen Klopp has basically retired, and won’t manage another Premier League club anyway. Thomas Tuchel only recently signed a new contract with England so is surely there for the next few years unless the World Cup goes far worse than expected. Carlo Ancelotti is probably going to retire after his stint with Brazil.
So in the absence of a proven winner out there, you’re gambling on someone like Enzo Maresca or Ruben Amorim, or if you’re lucky you might get yourself an Arne Slot, though you’ll probably then have to think about replacing him again after just a couple of years.
Sacking Arteta sounds like the plain and obvious solution until you actually give it the slightest bit of thought. He’s going nowhere unless he decides he’s had enough, and then he has his pick of every top job out there, you just wait and see.
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The 19-year-old Frenchman has been a big hit since joining the Cherries last summer, and he’ll surely be their next big sale after they previously cashed in on the likes of Dean Huijsen, Milos Kerkez, and Antoine Semenyo.
I’d heard murmurings about Kroupi before yesterday, but you’d be amazed what big performances in important games can do for a player’s value. I can assure you it’s not just a cliché that selling clubs put a lot of emphasis on World Cups, to take an example that will be highly relevant this summer, in determining how much they can realistically make from a sale. Equally, buying clubs are, in fairness, likely to be even happier to pay once they’ve seen their targets impress in the matches that matter.
Eli Junior Kroupi to Liverpool or Chelsea?
So, after doing a bit of digging after yesterday’s game, I was not too surprised to find growing interest in Kroupi, who has long been on the radar of top clubs, but who is now likely to be a priority target.
“Liverpool and Chelsea have a very concrete interest, they’re both really keen to make a deal happen this summer and are looking into it,” one source said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Liverpool have already had some conversations,” another source told me. “Richard Hughes has a good relationship with his former club and will be on the phone to his counterparts there after that performance yesterday.”
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Kroupi was superb against Arsenal, scoring the opening goal, and completing 12 of his 13 passes, whilst also working hard out of possession in a game that Bournemouth generally deserved to win.
Chelsea are also continuing to look for the best young players in the world and Kroupi is, I’m told, very high up on their list for this summer. The Blues need more in attack after Liam Delap’s poor form and a dip from the likes of Cole Palmer and Pedro Neto.
Eli Junior Kroupi transfer price revealed
Bournemouth notably sold Huijsen to Real Madrid last summer and they’ll probably hope again to avoid losing a key player like Kroupi to a Premier League rival.
One avenue for them could be Paris Saint-Germain, according to my sources, but their interest is not yet as concrete as that of Liverpool and Chelsea.
Expect other names to come up soon as well, with sources indicating Bournemouth could let Kroupi go for just £55-60m.
That’s a potential bargain for a player so young who’s already shown so much quality at the highest level, so it’s not the kind of opportunity that the likes of Arsenal and the Manchester clubs are likely to ignore, even if I’m not aware of them actively exploring him for the moment.
Mark my words, though, there’ll be more on Kroupi in the weeks ahead, and I’ll be sure to keep you posted on any info as I get it!
However, with the Reds now understood to be closing in on a new contract for Ibrahima Konate, it appears that they’re no longer in the running, if Matteo Moretto’s post on X is anything to go by.
See below as Moretto, who has worked with Fabrizio Romano, says Senesi now looks to be closest to Man Utd, Chelsea, and Spurs, with no mention of Liverpool…
Marcos Senesi está a punto de elegir su próximo equipo.
Sus agentes están en estrecho contacto con Chelsea, Tottenham y Manchester United.
“Marcos Senesi is about to choose his next team. His agents are in close contact with Chelsea, Tottenham, and Manchester United. The rest of the teams are much further away,” Moretto said.
Senesi has shone at Bournemouth and will be available as a free agent this summer, so these top clubs queuing up for him is hardly a surprise.
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What next for Marcos Senesi?
Senesi has proven himself at Premier League level and should be a valuable addition to a top club this summer, even if he’s perhaps only going to be a relatively short-term option.
The 28-year-old has probably already peaked, but he could still be a useful squad player for the next two or three years at least.
Chelsea would surely benefit from having someone more experienced in their squad, while United could probably also do with a bit more depth after so many injuries to the likes of Lisandro Martinez and Matthijs de Ligt.
It seems a decision is close and it’s becoming clearer which clubs are emerging as the favourites.
The talented 19-year-old is currently on loan at Marseille after a lack of playing time at the Emirates Stadium earlier this season, and it seems his future could be assessed this summer.
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Speaking on his YouTube channel, Romano made it clear that Arsenal had not made a final decision on Nwaneri yet, nor had they communicated with him or his representatives about any kind of intention to let him go.
“Dortmund wanted (Nwaneri) on a permanent transfer from Arsenal already one year ago, when Arsenal were negotiating a new contract with Nwaneri,” Romano said.
“At the end they were successful in reaching an agreement. There were Chelsea very interested and Borussia Dortmund – these two clubs. So interest especially from Borussia Dortmund remains very strong in Nwaneri. There are several clubs around Europe attentive to the situation.
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“At the moment Arsenal have not communicated anything to the player. So they didn’t tell the player and his camp ‘okay you can leave in the summer’. So that’s not the case at the moment. It’s still not decided.
“At the end of the season Arsenal will assess the situation with Nwaneri. Not today. It’s still not clear but from Dortmund they are still hoping to do one of their typical deals … signing these top players, top talents and then eventually sell them in the future.
“So Nwaneri is for sure still on the short list of Dortmund but still nothing decided by Arsenal. So that remains a situation.”
Should Arsenal keep Ethan Nwaneri?
Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly both looked outstanding for Arsenal when they got an unexpectedly high amount of opportunities in the first-team last season.
For one reason or another, they’re now out of favour, but Nwaneri in particular looks like he’s surely worth giving more chances to.
Capable of playing a variety of roles, Nwaneri could either be an upgrade on the injury-prone and out-of-form Martin Odegaard, or an alternative to inconsistent duo Bukayo Saka and Noni Madueke on the right-hand side.
At the same time, however, in this era of Financial Fair Play regulations, it’s important for clubs to be able to raise pure profit where possible, which means more of an emphasis on selling academy players.
A lot of fans probably won’t like it, but that could mean that Arsenal have a big decision to make on Nwaneri this summer, with interest clearly there.
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Although the Portugal international has ongoing interest from Saudi Pro League clubs, it seems that Man Utd improving their Champions League qualification hopes has made a big difference.
That’s according to Fabrizio Romano on his latest YouTube post, with the transfer expert explaining that Fernandes is really tempted to stay and play in the Champions League with the Red Devils.
It seems there are talks planned for after the end of the season over Fernandes’ future, so the club’s fans will certainly hope that this is finally heading in a more positive direction.
Fabrizio Romano on Bruno Fernandes’ future
“What I can tell you is that over the recent weeks, the prospect of playing Champions League football again at Manchester United is really, really making an impact on Bruno Fernandes,” Romano said.
“At the moment, what I can tell you guys is that from Saudi, they still want Bruno as they always wanted Bruno three years ago, two years ago, one year ago.
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“So, they remain interested. But Bruno is really tempted by playing Champions League football with Man United. So Man United are optimistic on keeping Bruno Fernandes for next season.
“Let’s see how the conversations will continue. Let’s see what’s going to happen. But Man United are optimistic. Then is going to be a conversation between Bruno and Man United at the end of the season.
“So we will follow the situation. But for sure United hope they can keep Bruno and they are going to try to keep Bruno Fernandes.”
Bruno Fernandes transfer summary
Fernandes will have just a year left on his contract with United this summer, meaning we can’t be entirely sure how this saga will play out.
However, Romano’s words will be encouraging for MUFC supporters, as one of the most reliable journalists in the industry seems to be strongly suggesting that both the club and the player are keen to continue together.
The 31-year-old may well want to play in the Champions League with United, but a move to one of those clubs would surely give him a far better chance of actually winning the competition, as well as other major titles, the likes of which have eluded him during his time in Manchester.
A warning from Liverpool
United might do well to look at how rivals Liverpool were blindsided by Mohamed Salah’s sudden drop-off in form this season.
Another ageing Premier League star, Salah’s world class form last season earned him a new contract, but fast forward one year later and he’s struggled to show anything close to his best form, and is now leaving.
Fernandes might be able to avoid that kind of fate, but it’s always a risk handing out deals to players who might suddenly find they’re heading into an irreversible decline.
Manchester United could reportedly use the 2026 World Cup to their advantage in this summer’s race to sign Nottingham Forest central midfielder Elliot Anderson.
The Red Devils surely won’t find it easy to land Anderson after his world class form in the Premier League this season, but it seems they’re not giving up.
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And Man Utd seemingly also feel they have one secret weapon up their sleeves in the form of Harry Maguire, according to the Sun.
Nottingham Forest want bidding war for Elliot Anderson
It’s also in Forest’s interest for this saga to drag on a little bit, as they’ll want big money from Anderson’s sale.
The England international will therefore probably be allowed the time to go to the World Cup and impress, with some strong performances on the biggest stage only likely to add to his market value.
That will then allow United the time to use an experienced figure like Maguire to work his magic on Anderson during their time together with the England squad.
As noted by TEAMtalk, it seems MUFC feel this is a strategy that has worked well for them before, as they signed big-name England stars like Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney after major international tournaments.
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Luke Shaw and Kobbie Mainoo are other players United could deploy to try to lure Anderson to the club, but of course City will also surely have some players in Thomas Tuchel’s squad that could influence the player’s decision.
Can Man City stars convince Elliot Anderson?
John Stones and Nico O’Reilly will probably be in the England squad at this summer’s World Cup, so they could also get a word in Anderson’s ear.
Meanwhile, it’s surely also the case that if other clubs like Arsenal and Chelsea want to get involved, they could also use players like Declan Rice and Reece James, respectively, to try to talk Anderson round.
All in all, this saga doesn’t seem like one that’s going to be resolved any time soon, so we can expect more stories like this in the weeks and months ahead as different teams try to edge each other out in the race for this fantastic talent.
Arsenal and Liverpool are reportedly among the clubs to have been approached over the potential transfer of Celta Vigo defender Oscar Mingueza.
The 26-year-old is due to be out of contract this summer and it seems he has a long list of admirers from the Premier League.
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Arsenal and Liverpool have been sounded out by intermediaries, and it seems they are interested in a potential deal, while Manchester City, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Newcastle United, and Everton could also be in the mix, according to TEAMtalk.
With so many clubs involved, it’s hard to know for sure where Mingueza could be most likely to move to next, but the report suggests that Arsenal and Man City seem particularly keen on the Spain international.
Oscar Mingueza looks like a low-risk transfer to add quality and depth
Given that Mingueza is set to be available on a free this summer, there’s little risk in offering him a deal.
This is a player still in his prime years, with quality and experience and the ability to fill in in a variety of defensive positions, and even in midfield.
With Arsenal suffering so many injuries this season, it’s easy to see why a player of this profile would appeal to Mikel Arteta, so see below for how we scored this potential signing for the Gunners…
Even if Mingueza is not the best player in the world or someone who’ll get a lot of fans off their seats, he looks like the potential to be a superb market opportunity.
Liverpool would likely also benefit from someone like Mingueza coming in after difficult debut seasons for new full-backs Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez.
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