Hello everyone and welcome back to Inside Arsenal.
In today’s show I give my thoughts on Ben White’s injury, Kai Havertz edging closer to a return and Declan rice leading the Arsenal changing room post-mortem following the win against Wolves on Saturday night.
0:00 – Intro
2:15 – Rice leads talks
7:35 – Ben White’s injury
13:30 – Havertz’s edges closer
15:20 – Your questions
Become an Inside Arsenal Patreon member, get exclusive extra content and help support my work and the channel: https://www.patreon.com/charleswatts
Also subscribe and get episodes via podcast:
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/inside-arsenal-with-charles-watts/id1809140671
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/62yOkixgu1OVskaiuIqDXv
YouTube music podcasts: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKCKV3-NZV9PcNKumKpjQGDc0XyH0MPEn
Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/81288714-48b8-4569-a8aa-5924c46e16a1/inside-arsenal—with-charles-watts
Acast: https://shows.acast.com/inside-arsenal-with-charles-watts

28 Comments
Havertz won't make that much of a difference to this team. He hasn't been able to get us over the line in the past and that was before 2 major injuries. I'd sell him in the summer.
From the outside, it lowkey feels like Rice might be undermining the current leadership in the squad. If that’s true, this could easily become a tipping point. How Arteta manages this really matters.
Astonishingly, it feels like we need to consider bringing in cover at RB come the opening of the window.
Our form has been changed, and lost too many points.
White’s injury totally down to the manager 😢
We struggle against the low block. This is the problem and it appears not to have been addressed. How do you beat it? Obviously slow transition and build up is not the answer but yet we persist.
Hi Charles, one of your loyal subscriber here, im sorry to say but i can see Timber getting injured. Arteta is very stubborn and will run him down to the ground. I think we need to go into the market for a defender come January. Keep up the good work.
What on earth has happened to Odegaard we’ve had nothing from him for nearly two years and all he does is unbalance the team
I think it's going to have to be Calafiori at RB to rest Timber. He's played there before, and we have MLS available. Carabao and FA cup Cala at RB, then more rotation with MLS and Cala at LB in the league
Captain Rice period
I know some are saying we should bring a RB in as extra cover but im pretty sure we have the max of 25 players in the PL so would have to sell or loan out a player to be able to do so.
Hi Charles. How you feeling about a change in system due to all the injuries? Back 5 maybe with noni and saka as wingbacks ?
So it would be
Gk Raya
RWB saka
Rcb saliba
Cb hincapie
Lcb Califiori
LWB Noni
Cm zubi
Cm zubi
Cam odegard
ST gyokores
Thankyou. Hope you and family have great Christmas
Maybe Odegaard is nearing expiry for his Arsenal stint. The type of game they played required a captain to bring energy
Also not sure why the team should even be under pressure. They are in December, not March and title run is still very open. Arsenal has been here before and dropped the ball for the last 3 seasons so I am not sure what kind of pressure the team should put on themselves. This should be an exciting time to keep pushing and gain as many points as possible.
The only negative thing is fatigue and that could be one reason, they didn’t have legs for the game. However, Arteta not starting Nwaneri and Norgaard against the lowest team makes no sense.
He should bear some responsibility of overplaying players too.
Without trying to sound obtuse, EVERY game right now and for the foreseeable future is a big game. Additionally, we had gone through a very difficult period of tough games. No excuses but the win was definitely much more important than the performance.
Comparing the captain to Dirk Kuyt is plainly ridiculous.
Rice was muscled off the ball too often and too easily. He clearly wasn’t right and should not have started. Eze looked lost
Martinelli, Eze, and Zubimendi were particularly bad.
When we had Kai, everyone moaned needed a proper 9. 😂 now we need Kai back urgently. We need Gabriel back desperately really. Because we lack security and confidence in not conceding.
Fans need to stop being over emotional during games 😂
Odeguard can go , not a leader, backs out of challenges , get rid make Rice captain .
Saka right back.
It's time for Berta to find us a right back EARLY in the January window
We've played almost all of 2025 without Havertz. Cannot wait for him to return. He was so underrated last season.
Rice is a leader on and off the pitch. It's time one or two players raised their game to the level we know they are capable of.
Surely the simplest answer is the best one. You just move one of the LB’s over to RB. They all could do a Job there and they can take on more load.
Rice is such a cry baby. Ducked for the wolves goal, poor set pieces and stray passing all over
Must also say, I thought Aiden Heaven looked pretty awful yesterday for Manure team conceding 4 goals. It's definitely not certain the youth players can perform at the highest level
So, a player shows his annoyance and frustration at his teammates after a poor performance. That’s normal, isn't it? I'm not sure what the big story is? That would happen in a Sunday League game with next to nothing at stake.
Last season disappointing from Ødegaard. This season, so far, also disappointing. Two, potentially disappointing seasons in a row is eye brow raising to put it nicely. Regardless of what reasons / excuses there are