Humor

After a scrappy, convincing win over Brighton & Hove Albion Sunday, we've been forced to confront a troubling idea. Arsenal have been acting awfully strange lately, grinding out wins against lesser teams instead of comically imploding. This is not what we signed up for.

We signed up for an Arsenal that's liable to do anything at any time for any reason, or no reason. And for the first few weeks of the season, that's what we got. Since the first international break, though, Arsenal have been acting sort of normal. 

Guys, don't worry. We have good news. We just saw Neymar and Cavani hug and these guys are totally bros again.

Seriously, just look at Cavani's face. That's exactly how we look when we hug people we love like our grandmother, or best friend, or total random strangers who smell funny.

We've heard of some weird pre-game rituals among professional footballers. There's Kolo Toure, who had to be the last player to leave the locker room at Arsenal. There's Thibaut Courtois, who takes a picture of himself on the toilet and sends it to four friends in Belgium before every match. But Roman Burki's pre-game ritual might be the most entertaining to watch.

In case you’ve been hiding under some sort of large pebble, FIFA 18 was released Friday, otherwise known as FIFA Friday. For many the launch date of EA Sports’ annual FIFA game is a personal holiday that comes before school/work, personal hygiene and familial obligations.

Here is how Twitter reacted to the game’s release.

Weekend Plans

It’s easy to make plans this weekend when you’ve got the newest FIFA to play. Plenty of you out there are more than willing to take a personal day to stay home to play FIFA on launch day. We salute you all.

The Europa League is full of fun. Half of that fun comes from spectacular goals scored by talented professionals, bringing us joy.

The other half, well, check out Aleksandr Kokorin's goal for Zenit St. Petersburg against Real Sociedad on Thursday.

That's just good clean fun. Of course, it wasn't the only goalkeeper blunder of the day.

The Wenger Watch is delighting in Theo Walcott's promising campaign to become the best Europa League player of all time. Theo got himself a first-half brace, followed by goals by Olivier Giroud (his 100th for Arsenal) and Rob Holding to hold off BATE Borisov, 4-2.

So, the Wenger-O-Meter continues its inexorable march toward Wenger "IN". We're getting close!

Normally, Cristiano Ronaldo is the best at what he does. If you need proof, just consider this: CR7 has won four Ballon d’Or accolades, he's been La Liga top scorer three times and he's been the Champions League top scorer six times!

Arsenal's 2-0 victory over West Brom Monday was . . . expected. Although they caught a couple breaks via the referee and Nacho Monreal's field awareness, Arsenal mostly took care of business and won by a scoreline that they were supposed to win by.

So, cool! We have accordingly adjusted the Wenger-O-Meter closer to the "IN" position. Wenger isn't quite out of the woods, but things are looking up!