On this Stateside Gooners Arsenal Women’s podcast, Eric and Matt discuss the Arsenal Women’s game against Everton in the Women’s Super League (WSL) action. We talk about Arsenal’s formations in this match, some loopy volleys, and Olivia Smith doing Olivia Smith things from the left side. We also discuss the best approach to re-introducing Leah Williamson back as the starting right center back. We provide a rundown the final day of the Women’s Champions League and what other results need to happen (aside from an Arsenal victory and 3 points) for Arsenal to finish in the top 4 of the League phase. Finally, we touch on the details that emerged last week about the inaugural FIFA Women’s Champions Cup which takes place in London at the end of January / beginning of February 2026.
As always we’d love to hear your comments to the episode, fan origin stories, and questions you may have for us. You can leave your comments via DM to Eric and Matt on the Bluesky app on @StatesideGooners
Eric predicted Arsenal would concede an own goal, making 'Own Goal' the leading scorer for Wolverhampton Wanderers after 16 games. As it turned out, Wolves conceded not one but two own goals, making 'Own Goals' our joint fifth best. (Shakes head).
Up next is Everton. Our record against both the club and the current manager suggest this should be a win and we've both predicted Arsenal to come away with the win by two goals.
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Check out Matt's Top Ten each week for the Premier League games on our Substack, here.
Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.
Two title races are on a knife-edge. Bouncing back after an Aston Villa loss, Wolves Preview
Welcome back to Stateside Gooners! This week, we cover Arsenal's bounce-back performance after the weekend's disappointing loss to Aston Villa.
Many felt the on-field player reaction to that single defeat was overblown, but as Gooners know all too well, one loss has tragically derailed title dreams in seasons past. With Manchester City finding their stride, there's no room for a falter now.
In this episode:
Tune in for approachable, concise, and hopefully humorous analysis of all the Arsenal fixtures, news, and tactics from a U.S. perspective.
Have a question or your own Gooner origin story? DM us on Bluesky at @StatesideGooners!
Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.
On this Stateside Gooners Arsenal Women’s podcast, Eric and Matt discuss the Arsenal Women’s game against FC Twente in the Women’s UEFA Champions League (UCL) action. We talk about Arsenal’s different formation which allowed an aggressive press. We also talk about a second consecutive good performance from Olivia Smith on the left side. We highlight the solid play of Katie McCabe and how versatile Kim Little is as a player and how did Arsenal score only once from 15 shots.
As always we’d love to hear your comments to the episode, fan origin stories, and questions you may have for us. You can leave your comments via DM to Eric and Matt on the Bluesky app on @StatesideGooners
On this Stateside Gooners Arsenal Women’s podcast, Eric and Matt discuss the Arsenal Women’s game against Liverpool in the Women’s Super League (WSL) action. We talk about Olivia Smith’s performance, the return of Kim Little and Leah Williamson and why does Stina have to be offsides so much. We touch on the expectations for this December block of 4 matches and our expectations for the women in these matches.
As always we’d love to hear your comments to the episode, fan origin stories, and questions you may have for us. You can leave your comments in your podcast platform of choice (Spotify and Apple are our primary platforms for now) OR DM us on the Bluesky app on @StatesideGooners
See you next time.
In this fargin episode of Stateside Gooners, we're obligated to talk about how our club, once again, lost to Aston Villa and our gosh darn former manager, Sir Good Ebening.
Aston Villa is quietly (?) becoming our newest bogie team (along with Newcastle). We have to find a way to make that stop. Well, we can't do a thing about it, but Mikel Arteta needs to do something about it.
Dag Gummit!
Up next is Club Brugge, which you're welcome to pronounciate any way you like, we just want to see a win. After we hear it 100 times during the game, we'll all know that it's pronounced 'Brugge.' Got it?
Check out Matt's Top Ten List.
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Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.
When do you know that your team is good?
I say it's when your 'second team,' your backups, are good enough to start on most of the teams in the Premier League. Outside our strikers (Gyökeres, Havertz, Jesus)(Merino?) most of our players would fit into 'just about' any team in the league.
That said, as is said about most team sports, you have to beat the team in front of you with the players you have available. In this game, we had a set of changes to the starting lineup that included new partnerships all over the pitch.
I think that we may have played the most fluid game of the season, and we're in agreement on that as we say in this episode.
Aston Villa started out slowly but picked up speed quickly and have maintained that most of the season. They're currently in 3rd and just 6 points behind us.
We've faced a series of challengers that were placed well in the table when we played them: Chelsea (3rd), Bayern (1st UCL), Sunderland (4th).
It'll be interesting to see how this game plays out. Villa are 12-2-2 since the September International Break and have won the most home games in the calendar year in the top 4 leagues in England.
Check out out Substack to read Matt's Top Ten List for the 2-0 win over Brentford.
Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.
I have a sticker on my coffee cup that says:
"Surely EVERYBODY wasn't kung-fu fighting."
If you are an audiofile, you'll know what song I'm talking about. If you aren't, it's about Caicedo's ankle stomp on Mikel "Wooly" Merino. Not everyone was doing that, ok?
Both Matt and Eric feel that Arsenal should have taken all three points from this match, especially with 52 minutes to play with an extra outfield player.
Chelsea brought their impertinence, but they also brought stout defending and a tough mindset that said to their opponents, "Come get it ... if you can."
Up next is Igor Thiago, Brentford, and their squad that scores from everywhere, a lot like us. They're 21 goals in 13 games nearly matches our 25 goals. But our league best defense, 7 GA, far ourstrips the 20 goals they've conceded.
Matt and Eric start their rotisserie fantasy this week. Who'd they pick to win? Listen in to the end.
Matt's Top Ten List for Chelsea vs Arsenal is here.
Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.
Happy Thanksgiving, Gooners!
Arsenal haven't beaten Bayern Munich since 2015. They've booted us out the last 8 and more often the last 16 too often. The bets weren't against Arsenal, at home, and like Bayern still undefeated in the Champions League.
But the demons were lurking and the media, too. Matt and Eric discuss a game that wasn't like the women's game, a game of two halves. It did have some of that flavor though, since Arsenal's second half was far superior as far as the eye test. Bayern still dominated possession, but Arsenal were a lot more dangerous.
Up next is Chelsea, the opponent in our second first place versus second place game in 5 days. This time we're away from home at Stamford Bridge, where Arsenal haven't won since August of 2018. The odds are on Arsenal to break that streak.
Don't forget to read Matt's Arsenal Top Ten List for all Premier League games at our Substack.
Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.
What’s the best way to win a North London Derby? Do it in a way that sticks it in their eye. Ebere Eze, a one-time target of our opponents scored the first hat-trick in two generations in a NLD, proving he made the right choice by calling Mikel and triple-checking that he didn’t want to bring him over to his childhood club.
In other words, he was the main reason why North London is Red as you read this.
We play another big team in the Champions League on Wednesday. If Matt has any Thanksgiving chips left (those are crisps for some of you), he’s not going to share. Help yourself to the nearest Grauls and pick up a case though, they’ll be gone in a blink, just like Tottenham’s chances of winning a title.
Ok back to UCL… Bayern Munchen is headed to London and they’re bringing Harry Kane with them. Even if Luis Diaz and his 10 goals can’t play, Michael Olise (former Eze teammate at Palace) is bringing his 21 goal involvements. Can’t wait to see if our predictions come true.
Maybe our collective wishes will.
Check out our content on Substack @StatesideGooners and please tell your friends to give us a listen. We’re catching on in the Gooner Community and you’ll want your friends to be early adopters, just like you.
Remember, everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.
Sometimes life grabs you by the center circles. You have to concede that without extra time you’ll never score a game winner. (That's means we were out of time to meet our objectives.)
In this case, Matt and Eric lost a week to family and medical obligations. Some of them were pretty crappy, to be honest. (i.e. We got too busy to record this episode, ok.)
But in the end we finally catch you up on the pair of 2-0 victories against Brighton and Burnley.
While we’re at it, we talk about whatever the hell we want to, really.
Whether it’s iCarly, the US National Team, Curaçao, Scotland, Ireland, my mail carrier Rory, or that Tottenham is annoying us so much it feels like they crawled up our butts just to bother us.
Let's just say we just put all that behind us and move on.
Up next: The North London Derby.
May the wind always be at your back, the road rise to meet your feet, and North London always be red.
Remember, everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.
On this Stateside Gooners Arsenal Women’s podcast, Eric and Matt discuss the Arsenal Women’s games against Bayern Munich in the Women’s Champions League (WSL) and Tottenham in the north London Derby in Women’s Super League (WSL) action. We also take the time to examine what is happening with the women’s season and different competitions.
As always we’d love to hear your comments to the episode, fan origin stories, and questions you may have for us. You can leave your comments in your podcast platform of choice (Spotify and Apple are our primary platforms for now) OR DM us on the Bluesky app on @StatesideGooners
Be sure to check out Megastructures: Real Madrid Super Stadium on Hulu for the documentary we talk about in the open. The project management, engineering design and installation to upgrade the Real Madrid stadium is truly remarkable.
See you next time.
You'll find Matt's Top Ten for the Sunderland game here. He tells us about escapades in music as well as some quality thoughts about what happened, and could have/should have happened.
The stats-makers suggested that with the squad we have and a 2-1 lead in the 75th minute we stood a 61% chance of winning the match.
Was Gabby's low diving header attempt, rather than just blasting it away with a foot to blame? Who knows? Sunderland, let by a rock solid Granit Xhaka 🥸, did a good job minimizing our opportunities while maximizing their own. I take nothing away from Brobbey, who broke his duck (scored his first Premier League goal) with a beauty to earn the draw. Sunderland are real and while I think they'll fade, like Nottingham Forest last season, they'll earn a few more scalps by taking points from big teams between now and May. Let's hope some of those go in our favor, too.
Next up is the NLD. No predictions from me, or Matt if I recall. It feels like bad luck to do that. The bookies think we'll win, and the margin is wider than any other game this week according to the site i looked at (-270). I'm not a betting man, so I had to look up with that means. (It means you'd win almost $14 on a $10 bet. Not a great return because the odds weigh so much in Arsenal's favor, I suppose.
We don't know much about Havertz, but Jesus is back in training. I doubt we'll see him in the game, but perhaps he earns a spot on the bench. I think we really need to get Gyökeres back by this game because as much as I like to have 'Wooly' (Mikel Merino ... wool) in the game, his heat maps prove he plays much deeper in the midfield that Gyö, who stretches the defense all over their defensive third. We need him to occupy van de Ven so Saka can be more effective.
I'm excited to see Trossard against Pedro Porro again. If you remember, he destroyed Porro on a triple move leaving him crumpled, embarrassed, and claiming injury in a previous NLD. After Tross's goal this weekend, I want to see that move again. At his best, he can get by anyone and as i say in this episode, I think he's the best two-footed player we've had since Santi Cazorla.
I never paid attention to the Canadian Premier League, have you? Check out the scenes from the final on their website. It looks like an American football situation with snow everywhere and a blizzard of white when the goalscorer executes a knee-slide. Perhaps Kieran Tierney should seek a late-career contract in this league? He looks like a fit based on this final.
Message us with your Gooner Origin Story, why are you a fan of The Arsenal.
Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.
On this Stateside Gooners Arsenal Women’s podcast, Eric and Matt discuss the Arsenal Women’s games against Leicester City and the big one against Chelsea in the Women’s Super League (WSL) action.
We quickly preview the upcoming week’s matches against Bayern Munich and Tottenham.
As always we’d love to hear your comments to the episode, fan origin stories, and questions you may have for us. You can leave your comments in your podcast platform of choice (Spotify and Apple are our primary platforms for now) OR DM us on the Bluesky app on @StatesideGooners
See you next time.
Episode 89 opens with the Hale End Academy kids and a little praise for how much they're playing and how much we appreciate seeing them play. It's great to watch them get the opportunities, which important to keeping them while they progress to the first team.
3-0. Seemingly not much to say, but we cover it whistle to whistle. Except we didn't mention the Ben White incident. Somehow we forgot? I guess when it's not PGMOL and they get it right it IS easier to pass over. UCL refs get calls right way more often than EPL refs... We think, in case you haven't heard us before, that PGMOL might have an inherent anti-Arsenal bias that accounts for how often they f*** up our games with bad decisions. Aaaaanyway... I digress.
Granit and Sunderland host us on the weekend and we're looking at who's going to take the 3 points out of the Stadium of Light.
Fun in Portland and a hot take on big hair round out the episode.
Technically, that thing I needed Matt to remind me about regarding the number 2 (not six/seven) is the end, so be sure to stick around for that.
You can find our blogs and Matt's Top Ten for PL games on Substack.
Message us with your Gooner Origin Story, why are you a fan of The Arsenal. We'd love to tell your story... if Eric can find it. (?)
Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.
In this episode we review the 1-0 snoozer (but all that matters is the 3 points, right?) against Crystal Palace.
There's a bit of preview that we try to get out for you, but we were interrupted by 'that hair guy' from Manchester United. Matt hadn't seen his hair yet, so it limited our chat about this Brighton Preview.
3QTs are fun as we cover shutouts, shots on goal (grrr), and an El Clasico circus.
Check out Matt's Top Ten List on Substack.
Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Alwa
Was this the BEST win from the Emirates (Arsenal Stadium ... that's new to us) era? I don't think so, but many do. Shutting out Atleti was 'somewhat' expected, but scoring four was on the fringes of anyone's expectations. What a big win!
We dig into this game for most of the pod, tackling the tale of two halves and two sides (left/right), as well as the sliding doors moments (like Eze & Alvarez bars) as well as the Gyökeres goals, especially THAT hip thrust goal. Hip? Thigh? Or..... (shifts eyes side to side).
Crystal Palace is up next and we're wondering if Ebere will start against his old mates. We worry a bit about Mateta's recent hat-trick. We name names when it comes to the final score and who gets the goals.
In Three Quick Things, I drop a bomb on one of the predicted scorers and we tackle a couple of other fun topics.
Please like and share so we can be found more easily! We appreciate every listener, as well as each origin story, so your efforts matter, and are all part of the fabric that makes The Arsenal, and Stateside Gooners awesome.
S2 WE6: Opponent name match re-cap
On this Stateside Gooners Arsenal Women’s podcast, Eric and Matt discuss the Arsenal Women’s games against Brighton in the Women’s Super League (WSL) and Benfica in the UEFA Champions League (UCL) action. We also discuss general thoughts on the season through this first international break and look forward to the upcoming “sprint” of 5 matches in November.
As always we’d love to hear your comments to the episode, fan origin stories, and questions you may have for us. You can leave your comments in your podcast platform of choice (Spotify and Apple are our primary platforms for now) OR DM us on the Bluesky app on @StatesideGooners
See you next time.
In Episode 86 we’re not discussing anything important… only that The Arsenal are STILL leading the Premier League, how we got here, what happened across town at Craven Cottage, the upcoming UCL tilt against Simeone and his Atletico Madrid team, plus a few quick things.
Matt’s got his Top Ten list on Substack, so check that out here. Do us a solid and subscribe. Share the link and ask your friends and mates to do the same.
Go find us on your favorite pod platform and subscribe, like, rate, and share those links, too. We love to do this and want to share with as many Gooners as we can. Your support helps us make that reality.
Mikel's Atletico Madrid pre-game presser is here.
On this Stateside Gooners Arsenal Women’s podcast, Eric and Matt discuss the Arsenal Women’s game against Manchester City in the Women’s Super League (WSL) action and the Arsenal match against 8-time women’s UCL champions Lyon.
As always we’d love to hear your comments to the episode, fan origin stories, and questions you may have for us. You can leave your comments in your podcast platform of choice (Spotify and Apple are our primary platforms for now) OR DM us on the Bluesky app on @StatesideGooners
See you next time.
If you are interested in hearing more about the 8-time women’s UCL champions Lyon and their history, have a listen to this: