⚽ Champions League updates from the 8pm BST kick-off⚽ Live scoreboard | Read Football Daily | And email ScottArsenal came so close last time round. But now they’ve got that Premier League monkey off their back, perhaps this season will finally be their moment to fill that conspicuous big-eared gap on their roll of honour. Because having slaked their domestic thirst, they’ve spent the first few games of this campaign with supreme confidence, swanning around like they own the place, which at the moment they kind of do. Spirits are at an all-time high …… and that’s before taking into consideration that near miss last season. Because while Arsenal’s 2025-26 Champions League tilt ended in despair, the bare facts are nevertheless something to take pride in: a 100-percent record in the league phase, unbeaten in regular time over the whole piece with a W11 D4 record, and the best defensive record (just seven goals conceded, nine clean sheets) of everyone. And having gone toe to toe with PSG, the best team in Europe, there’s little left to fear. Apart from perhaps another penalty shootout, that is, but that’s a bridge to cross sometime in the future. Continue reading...
The Reds, who are six-time European champions, were knocked out of the Champions League last season 4-0 on aggregate by eventual winners PSG. It has been a turbulent summer for Atletico Madrid, with the saga surrounding Julian Alvarez's future dominating much of the discussion.
Martin Odegaard has impressed Paul Merson in Arsenal’s first three matches (Picture: Sky Sports) Paul Merson has heaped praise on Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard following the side’s derby victory over Chelsea, claiming the midfielder is looking like a ‘new £100million signing’ this season. Odegaard had a largely underwhelming season by his standards last term, managing just one goal while chipping in with six assists across Arsenal’s title-winning campaign. It represented a major drop-off in return when compared to Odegaard’s second and third years with the Gunners, when he provided a significant goal threat and was twice named Arsenal’s Player of the Season. However, Odegaard has hit the ground running this term, scoring Arsenal’s third goal in the Community Shield before finding the net versus both Coventry City and Chelsea in the Premier League. Sign up for In The Mixer, Metro's football newsletter Get exclusive analysis and previews of the biggest games every Friday. Sign up now for free. The 27-year-old ran the show in Arsenal’s 2-1 victory over Chelsea and came away with the man-of-the-match award after completing an impressive 24 line-breaking passes as well as scoring the winner at the Emirates. He will no doubt be looking to pick up where he left off this evening when the English champions kick off their Champions League group-stage campaign away to Napoli. ‘I think if Odegaard got injured then Arsenal would get by, but he is back to what he was two years ago,’ Merson said of the Norwegian’s lightning start to the new season on Sky Sports News. Odegaard has flown out of the blocks this season (Picture: Getty) The Gunners have won three from three in the Premier League (Picture: PA) ‘If he can keep on playing like he’s been playing, that’s like a £100m new signing for Arsenal. ‘Over the last couple of years, his standards haven’t been good enough but the goal against Chelsea, they’re the goals you put up there for goal of the season. ‘The dummy by Kai Havertz and the finish by Odegaard… that’s football.’ {"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Mikel Arteta speaks before Champions League match against Napoli","contentUrl":"https:\/\/videos.metro.co.uk\/video\/met\/2026\/09\/08\/3761798954835882587\/480x270_MP4_3761798954835882587.mp4","description":"Arsenal's Mikel speaks to the press on Tuesday ahead of their Champions League match against Napoli on Wednesday at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.","duration":"T1M34S","height":270,"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i.dailymail.com\/1s\/2026\/09\/08\/22\/111127717-0-image-m-34_1788904072537.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-09-08T22:46:27+0100","width":480} To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next Previous Page Next Page window.addEventListener('metroVideo:relatedVideosCarouselLoaded', function(data) { if (typeof(data.detail) === 'undefined' || typeof(data.detail.carousel) === 'undefined' || typeof(data.detail.carousel.el_) === 'undefined') { return; } var player = data.detail.carousel.el_; var container = player.closest('.metro-video-player'); var placeholder = container.querySelector('.metro-video-player__up-next-placeholder'); if (placeholder) { container.removeChild(placeholder); container.classList.add('metro-video-player--related-videos-loaded'); } }); Merson believes Arsenal have to be considered among the favourites to win this year’s Champions League after being beaten by PSG in last season’s final. But the ex-Arsenal and England midfielder fears the club’s failure to make a ‘superstar’ addition me to their attack may cost them come the business end of Europe’s premier competition. Asked if Arsenal’s fanbase would prefer to win the Premier League or the Champions League this season, Merson replied: ‘Now they’ve won the Premier League after a long, long time, I think it would probably be the Champions League. ‘I don’t want to talk on behalf of everybody else but there’s a song th
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