Are you ready for some football?

The World Cup is over and all of those stadiums that Qatar built in the middle of nowhere, at the cost of the human suffering of thousands of people, will now lay fallow for the rest of eternity. Or just be dismantled. But hey, it was a good final. Argentina, a country which is suffering immensely with 100% inflation, 40% poverty, and interest rates at 75%, finally won a third World Cup and a few days later secured a $44bn loan from the IMF. Incidentally, that’s the same price that Elon Musk paid for twitter – a social media site where racists and homophobes now rule.

Not to be overly negative, it was great to see Messi finish football. And for one moment of sheer joy, we did get to see Emi Martinez hump his golden glove trophy followed by Salt Bae pawing the World Cup trophy out of the hands of children so he could post stories on his insta. I also admit that I enjoyed watching Harry Kane blow it for England with his terrible penalty against France.

The last six weeks weren’t all bad, the Arsenal women’s team are 2nd in the WSL (with a game in hand) and topped their Champions League group after convincing wins against Zurich and Juventus. Though, on the other hand, the Arsenal lost Miedema, Mead, and Gabriel Jesus to injuries.

There were a few (men’s) matches on yesterday, an amuse bouche ahead of the return to gluttony that will be the Premier League on Boxing Day. Man City beat Liverpool 3-2 in the League Cup, Haland scored, of course, and de Bruyne had two assists. Man U beat Burnley as well and Newcastle got past..Bournemouth.

Meanwhile, Ivan Toney has been charged with 262 counts (30 more than last month) of gambling on football. According to reports, he’s been working with the Football Association which should mean that he’ll get a somewhat lighter ban when they do eventually ban him. But it’s not looking good for Toney. I expect at least a year ban. This isn’t a funny story for me though. This is a man who is clearly a gambling addict and who knowingly broke the rules and put himself in the position he’s in because of that addiction. I sincerely hope he’s getting the help he needs. Any time I bring up gambling addiction, someone says “it’s only a problem if you can’t afford it” which isn’t true: it’s a problem if it hurts your life, work, or loved ones.

In case you forgot where we left off, Arsenal are 5 points clear at the top of the table, Man City are presumptive winners, and Newcastle look like the surprise package this year. Man U and Liverpool are both up for sale and people are starting to wonder if there are any more sovereign wealth funds left to buy these clubs and finally get them back on competitive grounds.

In the managerial merry go-round there are rumors swirling that Chelsea might fire Tuchel and confirmed reports that Ralph Hasenhuttl has been let go. Frank Lampard is also maybe on the chopping block. Everton are in real trouble, just one point out of the drop zone and openly fighting with their supporters.

Arsenal are easing back into the Premier League with a home match against West Ham. David Moyes has never beaten Arsenal at Highbury/the Grove and only won 4 times in 39 tries, his last win over Arsenal was at Old Trafford in November 2013. Arsenal follow that game up with an away trip to World Cup winner Alexis MacAllister in Brighton on New Year’s eve. Followed by Newcastle, Tottenham, and Man U. “We’ll know if Arsenal are real title contenders after this set of matches” he said, as if it were an original thought or insight.

Arsenal’s biggest problem is a Jesus sized hole up top. Plenty of transfer rumors are making the rounds: Mudryk, Tielemans, Enzo, Rabiot, MacAllister, Ferran Torres, Isco (not kidding!), Mo Kudus, and Cristiano Ronaldo. Arsenal’s transfer spin is rotating so fast right now it could actually turn back time. Here’s my take on each of these rumors and any other that are out there which I didn’t list: I don’t care.

If we sign someone, great. I’m not wasting any of my remaining spins of the electron worrying about whether any of those players are “good enough”, if they would “help the team”, if “Arsenal would be better off” with one or the other, if “we let one slip away”, if there was a “discussion about the warchest”, and if “Arsenal over/under paid”. It just doesn’t matter. The players we buy will or won’t work out. We will either play well with new guys or we won’t. Nketiah will step up or he won’t. And we will either sign new players or we won’t.

That’s my philosophy. Yours is probably very different.

Qq