Renée Slegers made six changes. Anneke Borbe came in for her first start, Mariona Caldentey went out to the wing, Kyra Cooney-Cross into midfield behind a back four of Emily Fox, Leah Williamson, Steph Catley and Laia Batlle. On the first thirty minutes you'd say the shape worked fine.

The problem is the bit at the end of it. Arsenal have two goals in four WSL games and sit seventh. A tight one away at Chelsea is a defeat you can live with in isolation, but the draws with Crystal Palace and Manchester United at home are what make this look like a pattern rather than a bad afternoon.

Arseblog News calls it a lack of clarity in the attack, and having watched Alessia Russo get starved of anything resembling a clean service for four games, that reading is hard to argue with. Nobody seems to know who the creator is. Mariona out wide is either the fix or an admission there isn't one.

Paris FC away on Wednesday, then Manchester City away on 4 October. Not the week you'd choose to find your finishing.

Carlos Cuesta has left Parma by mutual decision, with the club having lost three of their opening five in Serie A. He was on Arteta's staff here, and a first head-coach job in Italy at his age was always going to be a hard sell. I'd expect him back in a big club's building before long.

Jessie Gale made her debut on loan at Newcastle and Sophie Harwood won at Sheffield United. Both are there until June.

And it's thirty years since David Dein appointed Arsène Wenger, which remains the single best decision anyone at this club has ever made.

That's not a narrow win. Renée Slegers described her as "mature, calm and enjoying her football", and Arseblog News makes the case that a midfielder who'd been on the edge of things has forced her way back to the middle of them.

One WSL appearance and one in Europe so far this season. On that evidence you'd expect the number to go up.

Chelsea away on Sunday, and Slegers is talking about an entertaining game. Arsenal go there sixth, five points from three, still unbeaten and still short of a second win. A goalless draw with Palace and a stoppage-time rescue against United is not the start anyone wanted.

Kai Havertz is on his way back to London to be assessed. We now know how it happened — caught by Quinten Timber in Germany's 1-1 draw with the Netherlands, down in discomfort, appearing to mouth "hamstring" at the physio. Contact rather than a player breaking down on his own, which is the one mildly encouraging thing in it.

Leeds at home on 3 October. Three goals in seven appearances this season, and no obvious like-for-like if he misses it.

Brentford have opened talks with Kevin Schade over a new long-term deal, with Arsenal named among the clubs watching. That reads to me like Brentford using the interest to get a signature rather than Arsenal getting close to one. Wingers who start well in September attract this sort of story every year.

Christos Tzolis scored for Greece. Four assists for Arsenal since the £34m move from Club Brugge and no goal yet, so he'll take one wherever it comes.

You'd take a bad feeling into it anyway. A player pulling up unprompted, first half, on international duty — that rarely turns out to be nothing. The Athletic had the detail out of Amsterdam before anyone at Arsenal said a word, which is how these usually reach us.

Leeds at home on 1 October, and Arteta will want to know before the week's out. Havertz cost £62m from Chelsea three years ago and the squad has been built around having him available rather than around covering for him. Three days after Brighton dismantled them, this is not the news anybody wanted.

Emily Fox has signed a new contract, a three-year one, with her old deal due to run out at the end of the season. The interest from the NWSL was serious and it was well funded. She's a US international who came from North Carolina Courage in January 2024, and losing her to a bidding war would have left Renée Slegers hunting a right-back in a season that's already stuttering. Getting it done in September rather than February is the part to appreciate.

Chelsea away next for the women, which is about the least forgiving fixture available when you're sixth.

David Raya has two nominations for September's Save of the Month, which is a slightly absurd way to be recognised. Bruno Guimarães is up for Goal of the Month for the one at Sunderland. First season at £75m and he's already on that list.

Charlie Phillips, technically an U16 this year, was named third-choice keeper for the Ipswich cup tie. Worth remembering that name.

David Raya saved it anyway. Enzo Le Fée took it on 56 minutes, Arsenal won 2-0, and nobody outside the club spent much of that week talking about it. Which is presumably why this lands as a curiosity rather than a grievance.

Still, you'd like someone to explain what "clear and obvious" means if a wrong penalty doesn't clear the bar. The panel's own reasoning is set out on The Athletic, and it's a decent illustration of a system designed to protect referees from each other rather than to get decisions right. Arsenal won the game. Somebody else won't.

Lee Carsley says Max Dowman's name comes up regularly when he and Thomas Tuchel talk squads, and that the timing has to be right. He's being careful in public, which is the correct posture. There's chatter about the 16-year-old training with the seniors at St George's Park this week.

A fortnight ago the talk was a loan to find him minutes. Now it's England. You can hold both ideas, but only one of them is about his development.

The U18s went into the break on three straight wins, tighter at the back under Josh Smith than they were last season. That's the sort of thing that only shows up in results months later.

Arsenal Women beat HB Køge 1-0 in their Champions League opener, Mariona Caldentey converting a penalty in the third minute of stoppage time. Renée Slegers made eight changes. The bigger problem is that it needed a 93rd-minute spot-kick at all — a deep block, again, and no obvious idea about how to break it. Chelsea away on Sunday won't sit in.

It's expected to keep him until 2030, which would take his reign past a decade, and The Guardian says he can expect a hefty increase on his £10m-a-year salary. You'd struggle to argue with either half of that. He won them the league.

The timing is the interesting bit. Three days after the 3-0 at Brighton, Arsenal's heaviest defeat in over three years, and the club have gone ahead and tied themselves to him for years. That's a board that isn't reading one bad afternoon as evidence of anything.

His backroom staff are negotiating new deals too. That's the part that actually matters day to day — a manager on a long contract with a coaching staff who all leave in the summer is a different proposition entirely.

Arsenal Women beat HB Køge 1-0 at Meadow Park to open the Champions League league phase, and it took a penalty from Mariona Caldentey in stoppage time. Slegers made eight changes from the United draw. Only Leah Williamson, Steph Catley and Stina Blackstenius kept their places.

Slegers called it a mentality and resilience win, and you can see why she'd reach for that. Two games, two goals in the last minutes of stoppage time. The problem she's actually got is the one before the ninetieth minute: a side that can't break down a low block is going to keep making these nights harder than they need to be.

Declan Rice is said to be ready to commit his long-term future to the club. That one came off the back pages, the day after he'd pulled out of the England squad with his workload being managed. I'd want the club's word on it before I got excited.

You'd rather this happened in September than in February. A £100m midfielder who hasn't had a proper summer since 2023 is not a player you want finding his ceiling in the middle of a title run. Leeds at home on the 28th, and no reason yet to think he misses it.

Arsenal Women open the Champions League league phase against HB Køge at Meadow Park tonight, 8pm. Danish champions, and a tie Renée Slegers has framed as a chance to put things right: two goals in three WSL games, and those two came 188 minutes apart. Whatever the finishing problem is, they've watched it back.

Smilla Holmberg looks set for her first start of the season. Fair enough after Saturday. The 19-year-old says her first full pre-season at the club has given her a lot of confidence, which is the sort of thing you can usually only take on trust — except she came off the bench and equalised in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

Steph Catley reached 100 WSL appearances against United, which got rather lost in the noise of a late equaliser.

The Brighton defeat keeps giving. A piece on The Athletic makes the case that Fabian Hürzeler had his side break the usual rules of pressing and be brave without the ball, and that it thoroughly destabilised Arsenal. That squares with Arteta talking about respect rather than shape. Somebody found a way to make them uncomfortable, and everyone else will have noticed.

November's schedule is finalised. Anfield at 4.30pm on Sunday 1 November, Newcastle away at 5.30pm on Saturday 21 November, and Manchester City at the Emirates on Sky.

Renée Slegers' verdict was "we wanted to be more clinical", which is the polite version of what the table is already saying. Sixth, five points, one win from three. A goalless draw with Palace and now this.

A win would have equalled the longest unbeaten run in the club's history. That one waits. Chelsea away next, so it isn't getting any easier.

The Brighton post-mortem is worth your time if you'd rather understand Saturday than forget it. The Athletic has a breakdown of Hürzeler's high press and the "backwards defending" behind it, and the word it keeps coming back to is brave. That's the bit that should sting. Arsenal didn't get bullied by accident, they got outmanoeuvred by a side willing to leave space behind and trust themselves to cover it.

Arteta's own reflection on the afternoon didn't add much to what he said at full time, and he'd already used the word "respect".

Nineteen of the first-team squad are now away on international duty for an extended break. Most of those national teams play up to four times. Gabriel, Bruno and Piero are on the other side of the world for friendlies, which is a lot of air miles for nothing in particular.

The U18s won 5-1 at Norwich. Whatever's wrong upstairs isn't catching.

Arteta called it a big lesson and said his side didn't respect the game. Harsh word, "respect", and he wasn't reaching for it by accident. When a manager goes past tactics and starts talking about basics not being done, he's telling you he saw players who thought the afternoon would come to them.

Ezri Konsa's line was no excuses, we weren't good enough. That'll do.

Bruno Guimarães and Jurriën Timber both started, with Raya behind a back four of Timber, Konsa, Gabriel and Calafiori, and a bench carrying Eze, Madueke, Gyökeres, Merino and Dowman. Plenty there to change a game. None of it changed this one.

Brighton went third on the back of it, on the day they marked their 125th anniversary in special shirts. Arsenal stay second with four wins from five. Now three weeks of international football to sit with it, which after a day like this is either the best thing possible or the worst.

Arsenal Women 1-1 Manchester United at the Emirates, Zigotti putting United ahead late before Smilla Holmberg equalised in the fifth minute of stoppage time. Third game without a win at this ground. Arseblog News makes the point that United had beaten Arsenal by shutting them out three times last season, and after losing 5-0 to Chelsea last weekend Eva Olid was never going to come and play — a two-goal cushion was never the plan, a low block was.

The win that would have equalled the club-record unbeaten run didn't arrive. Chelsea at home next Sunday.

Norwich City 1-5 Arsenal for the U18s, which is the only unambiguously good number on the board this weekend.

I can see the logic and I still don't love it. A 16-year-old who wins the ball, plays a one-two and finishes it himself in a cup tie is not obviously short of anything except minutes. The question is whether those minutes are easier to find at a Championship club than in Arteta's rotation.

Brighton tomorrow, and Arteta said the squad are "all good" while declining to say anything useful about anyone. Cristhian Mosquera, Ben White, Jurriën Timber and Piero Hincapié all sat out the Ipswich tie. Draw your own conclusions, because he clearly wants you to.

Viktor Gyökeres got a public backing, which tends to happen when a striker with 21 goals in a title season has spent the early weeks watching. He's had one substitute appearance. That's a situation that resolves itself with one good half-hour, and Brighton away is as good a place as any for it.

David Raya was named Premier League Player of the Matchweek for Sunderland, where he turned Enzo Le Fée's penalty away with the scores level and Bruno Guimarães scored two minutes later. Arteta called his route to the top an inspiration. Five clean sheets in six says the same thing less warmly.

Arsenal Women have named their 25 for the Champions League league phase, with HB Køge at home on Tuesday. Manchester United come to the Emirates first, 17:30 on Saturday, and after the Palace draw there's no version of this where a point is acceptable.

The U21s drew 0-0 at Birmingham City.

One more thing doing the rounds: a serious redevelopment of London Colney, with the Emirates in the same conversation. Early stage, so nothing to get excited about yet.

Slegers' line is "we are looking to do things better", and on the reaction in training since Palace, "the reaction has been really good". You'd want to hear that. Fifth, four points, one win — the table says this is a team that hasn't got going rather than one in trouble.

United arrive still finding their feet under new management, which Arseblog News frames as the opening Arsenal ought to take. Hard to argue. The problem at the Emirates lately hasn't been control, it's been the last twelve yards.

Then HB Køge at home on the 22nd to open the Champions League league phase. Two home games inside four days for a squad rebuilt almost from scratch this summer. That's the sort of week you want early.

Brighton away next for the men, and Arsenal go there top with four wins from four.

Myles Lewis-Skelly has responded to the summer speculation about his future. Nineteen, an academy product, six appearances across all competitions already this season, and no obvious reason for him to be anywhere else. The noise around him isn't going away while he keeps playing.

Ife Ibrahim now has two first-team appearances, the Ipswich cameo following the one against Kairat. Prominent at U21 level for a year, and Arteta's clearly comfortable using him in the cup.

Vincent Joseph has signed for Arsenal. Declan Rice, meanwhile, has reached 50 goals and assists for the club, which for a £100m holding midfielder is more than anyone bargained for.