THE NORTH BANK - An Arsenal Podcast

That's 8 wins from the opening 9 games, 4 wins away at grounds we dropped points at last season without conceding a goal this time, 6 clean sheets, a clear lead at the top of the table. It's going okay, isn't it?

Join Holly, Stef and Chris as we look back at a hard fought, but deserved, victory at Anfield, with high praise for Rice, Konsa, Tzolis, Lewis-Skelly among others. Is Rice becoming our greatest midfielder of the Premier League era? Is Konsa the signing of the summer?

We also look ahead to the trip to Prague on Wednesday...

A resolute Arsenal hold on to claim their first league win at Anfield for 14 years.

Stef was at the game to witness the win and record the scenes at the away end, before getting back to his car without a smug look on his face.

Enjoy the vibes, we'll be back with a deeper dive in the next pod.

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As the dust settles on our humiliating Carabao Cup exit to Fleetwood, we have the small matter of a trip to Anfield to look ahead to on Sunday.

Join Holly, Stef and Chris as we attempt to make sense of the cup exit, and offer hope ahead of Sunday's showdown. Not sure we're all that successful at either task. There's chat about Havertz, Gyokeres, Dowman, Arteta, fear ahead of the Liverpool game and much more.

We welcome Lancashire Lad on to provide the Liverpool view, on this game, and their season so far. Please enjoy, l...

A shock defeat to Fleetwood Town in the Carabao Cup as Arteta's rotated team fails to find a winner in full time against a resolute opposition currently 18th in League Two.

Credit to Fleetwood for executing their game plan, but for us that was a humbling, embarrassing performance. Stef travelled many miles to witness it and give his honest appraisal.

Join us for the full review and a look ahead to the Anfield game in the next pod...

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After a pretty good weekend that saw us going top with a comfortable win at home to Everton, while Sham City lost at Villa, join Holly, Stef and Chris as we look back on Saturday and ahead to a return to Highbury on Tuesday.

We discuss players who impressed against Everton, Konsa, Gabriel, Madueke, as well as a referring performance that bewildered most. We ask who our main rivals are for the title, and which players will be rested for the midweek trip to Fleetwood. Please enjoy, like, share, etc. Thank you and COYG!

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Stef & Holly give their immediate thoughts from a wet and windy Emirates following our 2-0 home win v Everton.

The stats will say it was never in doubt and Everton rarely threatened, but being 1-0 up after 7 minutes, we really ought to have put it to bed before half time.

More to follow in the main pod plus a look ahead to Fleetwood!

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We return from Germany with a deserved point in the bag and look ahead now to welcoming Everton to town on Saturday. Join Holly and Stef as we assess the positives of our draw in the Champions League, with Eze, Odegaard, Rice and Madueke all coming in for praise, as did Gyokeres, a sign of things to come I hope.

Attention is then turned to Everton and how we may cope with yet another team who will set up to stifle us, is it time for Eze and Madueke to imprint their personalities on the game, and tak...

Join Holly & Stef for a quick review of tonight's 2-2 draw with Bayern at the Allianz. Two superb open play goals for us and the obligatory penalty for stat-padding Kane...

More in our next pod where we'll also look ahead to Saturday's game at home v Everton.

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Another single goal victory, our 18th in the last two seasons - is this sustainable? Can we keep relying on our defence to keep clean sheets? Who carries our X factor in attack? Join Holly, Stef and Chris as we tackle these questions, and more, as we look ahead to a very tasty trip to Bayern on Wednesday evening. Who do you think will get the nod in our starting 11? Two of us have predicted a draw, with the other going for an away win, how do you think we'll do? Please enjoy, like, share etc. COYG!

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Noni scored. We won. 3 points.

We'll unpick it all in the next pod!

In the meantime, here's Holly & Chris with Stef from the City Ground for an Instant Reaction quickie.

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Plenty to get through as Arsenal head to Forest on Sunday afternoon. Join Holly and Stef as we take a look back at the highlights of our comfortable victory over Lille in the Champions League. Three beautiful goals, encouraging signs from some of our squad players and the inevitable chat about the (lack of) contribution of others.

There are nerves evident when looking ahead to Sunday's game and we finish off with the very serious task of working out which City player (other than Haaland) we'd like at Arsenal when the fire sale starts. Please enjoy, like, sh...

Well that turned out alright in the end, didn't it? After an 'okay' first half we really upped the ante straight from the kick off in the second, which ultimately led to a very 'easy on the eye' three nil home win against Lille. Beautiful goals were the order of the day, with Timber, Eze and Saka obliging. A performance that will hopefully instil further confidence in the squad as we head into a very tricky couple of matches. Join Holly and Stef as we provide our instant reactions to the game. Please enjoy, like, share etc. COYG! 

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Join Holly, Stef and Chris as we take a more in depth look back at the Leeds game. Not quite a game of two halves, but a game where the final 30 minutes represented a massive improvement on the previous 60.

Bruno G will rightfully receive the plaudits for another banger, but praise too for Odegaard, Rice, Konsa and Madueke. We also comment on the farce that is now going to be every City game, where yet another refereeing decision aided their (hopefully) meaningless march to three points. The sooner we get shot of them, the better. And finally, t...

A very typical 12.30, after international break, kind of game where we laboured for an hour before Ricci Calafiori's leveller and Bruno G's fantastic winner.

Get the vibes from our match-going lads in this instant reaction pod - a full pod to follow...

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Check out our exclusively designed merchandise including t-shirts, hoodies and the iconic North Bank mug at ⁠⁠northbankpod.myshopify.com⁠⁠

For exclusive access, content and discounts on our range of merchandise, join our North Bank community:

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Join the conversat...

Proper football is back! Join Holly and Chris as we look ahead to the return of club football this weekend. Arsenal host unbeaten Leeds in a long overdue attempt to erase the painful memories of our defeat at Brighton. Plenty of questions about the team selection to pose; who partners big Gabby at the back, who partners Rice in the middle and who gets the nod up front, assuming Havertz is injured? We also find time to talk about the cheats, so be sure to give us a listen, a like, a share, etc. Thank you, and COYG!

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As the City case rumbles on there are still plenty of updates to process. Join Holly and Stef as we talk about potential sanctions should the guilty verdict be upheld on appeal, sanctions that could be from a smorgasbord of options to include fines, points deductions, expulsion, transfer bans, removal of owners, and so on.

We also chat about how the Arsenal players are getting on during this international break - do you think we have, so far, come out of it better or worse? Please enjoy, like, share etc. COYG!

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Join Holly and Stef as we welcome Diego from The Global Gooners Podcast to chat all things Arsenal. Diego shares his experiences of following Arsenal from his country of birth, Nigeria, to Manchester and eventually to Washington DC, where he currently resides. We talk favourite players, highlights, lowlights, memories of last season and hopes for this season. We also react to the latest news about the ongoing charges against City and what these could mean for Arsenal. Please enjoy, like, share etc. COYG! 

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Join Holly, Stef and Chris as we provide our reaction to the news that City have been found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges brought against them by the Premier League. As well as talking through the ramifications of their actions, we also ask what the punishment should be - a points deduction, expulsion, transfer ban, stripping of titles, a fine - and whether or not we feel sympathy for the fans at all. Please enjoy, like, share etc. COYG! 

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With the longest international break known to man now in full swing, we take advantage of the absence of actual Arsenal games to have a superb chat with Simeon Farrar, writer and performer of 'The Night London Turned Red'.

In his emotional poem he encapsulates what that Tuesday night in May meant to so many people, with a deeply personal reflection on what it also meant to him within the context of a wider family crisis.

He shares his thoughts on that night, the days that followed and football in general, and the unifying impact...

Not quite the perfect start to the season, but 7 wins out of 8 isn't exactly a disaster. Join Holly, Stef and Chris as we look back at the Brighton game and assess the current state of play at the top of the Premier League. What lessons should Arteta learn from the Brighton defeat, is our summer transfer business coming home to roost now and should we be concerned about our lack of threat from set pieces so far this season? We explore these questions, plus much more. Please enjoy, like, share etc. COYG!

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Brighton 3 Arsenal 0. What can you say about that? We have a reaction from the ground from Stef, who beats a philosophical drum, whilst Holly and Chris provide some further reaction back home to our first defeat of the season.

Please 'enjoy' like, share etc. It could be worse, we could be Spurs, or Chelsea. COYG!

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Check out our exclusively designed merchandise including t-shirts, hoodies and the iconic North Bank mug at ⁠⁠northbankpod.myshopify.com⁠⁠

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⁠FREE...

Seven wins from seven games to start the season. Not bad. The latest saw us cruise past Ipswich 4-2 in the League Cup. Some great performances to whet the appetite, notably from the two youngsters Dowman and Salmon, but also Zubimendi, Madueke and Merino. Less impressive performers also come in for some examination. Join Holly, Stef and Chris as we look back in more detail at that game, whilst also casting our eyes forward to Brighton away at the weekend. A tricky ground to visit, even more so as Brighton are top scorers this season so far. Will Hurzeler g...

The perfect start to the season continues with a hard fought win away to Sunderland. It wasn't without incident though, and, despite the narrative, we won it despite the referee, not because of him.

Join Holly, Stef and Chris as we look back at all the key decisions, laud Raya's penalty save, wonder if we've seen a better first goal for an Arsenal player than Bruno G's and ultimately applaud the effort, resilience, skill and determination of the entire team. There's also a look ahead to the Ipswich game in the League Cup. Other topics include refereeing s...

Well that wasn't easy, was it? Enjoy Stef at the ground and Holly at home for this instant reaction to our away win at Sunderland. Say, we are top of the league, say we are top of the league...
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Check out our exclusively designed merchandise including t-shirts, hoodies and the iconic North Bank mug at ⁠⁠northbankpod.myshopify.com⁠⁠

For exclusive access, content and discounts on our range of merchandise, join our North Bank community:

⁠FREE on Patreon!⁠

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⁠BlueSky @northbankpod.bsky.social⁠

⁠Twitter / X @n...

Our superb start to the season continued with as convincing a 1-0 win as you are ever likely to witness. This team continues to impress and entertain in equal measure. Join Holly and Stef as we pore over the many individual performances in Naples, from Odegaard to Konsa, Saka, White and Rice.

We also look ahead to another tricky away game in Sunderland on Saturday evening, where the rest of the league will be praying for a repeat of last season's dropped points. Who makes your starting 11, who plays on the left, will we see the immediate retu...

Well this was a joyous podcast to record! A dominant 2-1 victory over Chelsea, men against boys as described in some circles, leaves us with maximum points from our opening three games. Is there something inevitable about Arsenal this season as that's three very different victories thus far? Join Holly, Sted and Chris as we explore all that went right, from the reaction to conceding so early, the energy, the fluency, the control, the scintillating atmosphere. Who was your man of the match, what was your moment of the match, are we relying too heavily on open play goals now...

With all three of us at the game, it's Producer Chris who raced home to put this pod together after a breathless, tense and hard-earned 2-1 victory over Chelsea.

Hear Stef & Holly's thoughts from the Emirates as Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard's strikes (both from open play) ultimately clinched three vital points.

Join us for the next pod too, in which we'll go into more detail on this game and look ahead to our first CL game - away to Napoli on Wednesday.

Enjoy, share, rate and of course...UP THE GUNNERS!

The first big six clash of the season for us at the weekend as we welcome Chelsea to The Emirates. With arguably the most potent attack up against the stingiest defence, who will come out on top? Us, obviously.

Join Holly, Stef and Chris as we highlight their strengths, but also their weaknesses, and explore how we may be victorious. We also summarise our views on the transfer window, for us, and our rivals. And finally, we bid Martinelli goodbye, wishing him all the very best for the future. Once a Gooner, always a Gooner.

P...

So the transfer window slammed shut and we are left without that ceiling raiser in attack. But should that cloud a window in which we reinforced in defence and in midfield with real high quality experienced players? Join Holly, Stef and Chris as we examine our window in more depth, attempting to calm the nerves and keep things positive. We also look back at our 1-0 victory at Villa Park, a brilliant result from a familiar performance perhaps? There is praise for Calafiori, Rice, Saka, Eze and Bruno G, with some criticism of an attack that failed to click int...

It's Aston Villa away on Monday night for us in this round of fixtures. Not a happy hunting ground recently, with two defeats in our last two visits. But is this a good time to meet them? Rogers, Konsa, Watkins gone or going, injuries and suspensions to several other key players and only a few lesser lights in through the door thus far. Join Holly and Stef as we examine likely line-ups for both teams, with a score prediction thrown in as well. We also dip into the transfer market and champions league for your entertainment. Please enjoy, like, sha...

Our first Premier League review of the season, and what better way to start than with a comfortable 3-0 home win! We discuss; team selection, which players impressed, the atmosphere, and lessons learned . We also cast our thoughts over the other big 6 games of the weekend. Who has come out of the opening round of fixtures as our main rival, and what might the remainder of the transfer window hold for these clubs? Will we be active, is Martinelli on his way, will Alvarez be convinced by our project? Join Holly and Stef as we tackle all this, and...

We begin the 'attack' of our Premier League title with a comfortable 3-0 home win v Coventry.

Stef and Holly were at the Emirates to witness the game and soak up the vibes of our first home game since winning the title.

Some very impressive performances, not least the collective efforts of Saka, Odegaard and Havertz who all started and all scored.

There will be a full review pod to follow so please get your comments in via the socials or Patreon to give the lads more to talk about!

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Here we go again! Welcome to our first Premier League preview show of the new season. Join Holly and Stef as we look ahead to the visit of newly promoted Coventry to the Emirates on Friday evening as we look to kick off our title defence with a win. We look at the opposition and the threats they may possess; attempt to predict the starting lineup and final score. We also chat about the signing of Ezri Konsa and how it's being received by fans of Arsenal, and our rivals. How do you feel our rivals are managing this...

It's season preview time! Join Holly and Stef as we explore what we feel would make a successful season this time around. Who do you feel will be our biggest challengers? What do we need to do to improve on last season? We also look back on what was a very impressive 3-0 trouncing of City in the Community Shield. Positives include Odegaard, Tzolis, Miles Lewis-Skelly and our overall sharpness - it augurs well for the start of the season on Friday. Please enjoy, like, share etc. Thank you - COYG!

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With Arsenal's pre-season over we take a look at the highlights, which include Tzolis, Dowman, Salmon and Odegaard, among others. We ask whether results matter at this stage (they don't), or whether it's all about minutes in the legs and bedding in new signings (it is). We also examine the transfer market as a whole this summer, before focusing more specifically on Arsenal - if no further incomings or outgoings would you be happy? We then cast our thoughts forward to the Community Shield on Sunday against City - isn't it lovely to be going into this game as cham...

They say you should never meet your heroes, but whoever 'they' are clearly never met David Seaman. In this 'Northbank meets' episode the legendary Arsenal goalkeeper joins us for a wonderfully wide ranging chat about his career path and highlights.

There are entertaining anecdotes stretching from primary school to Arsene Wenger, from fishing trips to England training camps. With far too many highlights to list here, just watch, listen, enjoy. You are in for a rare treat!

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David and the North Bank pod team are proud to support ⁠⁠⁠British Heart Foundation⁠⁠⁠ in their awareness campa...

Welcome to our first proper live show where we talk all things Arsenal transfers and pre-season so far. We discuss both confirmed and rumoured incomings, and whether or not we are currently stronger than when we finished last season. If we are to sell 4 more players, who should they be? Is there a price at which you'd entertain the sale of Lewis-Skelly? If not Vinicius Junior, then who?

Join Holly, Stef and Chris as we tackle these questions, and many more. Please enjoy, like, share etc. Thank you. COYG!

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In this episode of North Bank Meets... Producer Chris and Stef welcome the Highbury Squad's Commanding Officer, Sophie Nicolaou.

We discuss Sophie's Arsenal story, the birth of Highbury Squad alongside Super Kevin Campbell, her love of the number 7 and much more.

You can find Sophie on Highbury Squad's live and pre-recorded shows on YouTube and your podcast apps.

https://linktr.ee/highburysquad

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In this special 'North Bank Meets...' episode, Holly & Chris are joined by Arsenal podcast A-lister, Elliot Smith from the highly-esteemed Arsenal Vision pod.

We talk World Cup, being a Gooner in the USA and how it all began before bringing it up to date with thoughts on our title win, Champions League heartbreak and hopes for next season.

A great chat not to be missed!

You can find Arsenal Vision on all podcast apps and Elliot is @yankeegunner on socials.

Let the transfer window commence. I know I know, it's already started for most clubs, but we've been busy doing all our work behind the scenes and I'm confident the dominoes will begin to fall any day now.

Join Holly, Stef and Chris as we mull over possible signings and departures. We attempt to explain why we are so poor at selling, especially when compared to our rivals - but does this even matter? We also look back at the closing weekend of the world cup and wonder what might have been. Plaudits for Saka, scorn for Ar...