Arsenal moved to the top of the Premier League on Saturday, avoiding the banana skin of a ‘new manager bounce’ by breezing past Nuno Espirito Santo’s West Ham United.
From penalties to DefCons and injuries, here are our Scout Notes from the Emirates.
PENALTY PALAVER
Cast your minds back six weeks or so, and there was plenty of chatter about Viktor Gyokeres (£9.1m) assuming control of penalties following his summer move. His new manager, Mikel Arteta, even named him Arsenal’s best taker of spot-kicks. Gyokeres’ record backs that up: 20 taken in 2024/25, 20 scored.
A few days later, the Swede converted from the spot in the Gameweek 2 win over Leeds United. That’s that settled, then – or so we thought.
On Saturday, Arsenal won their latest penalty, their second of the season. And up stepped… Bukayo Saka (£9.9m). He scored, and we’re back to square one again.
Saka wasn’t present when Gyokeres netted against Leeds, but both players were on the field against West Ham.
Is Saka still the first choice, then? It’d be naive to assume that, too, given how generous the winger has been in the past with sharing the responsibility. Arteta even reiterated in pre-season that the players “resolve it themselves” whenever there is a penalty awarded.
One thing worth mentioning is that Saturday was Saka’s 200th Premier League appearance, and the penalty brought up his 100th goal involvement. Did he pull rank because of the occasion?
Almost inevitably, there wasn’t a single penalty-themed question thrown to Arteta or Saka in any of the post-match interviews or press conferences we’ve seen.
We’re still in the dark, then – but one thing we do now know is that Gyokeres doesn’t have the monopoly on spot-kicks.
ODEGAARD + RICE INJURY UPDATES
A comfortable victory over the Hammers was marred by injuries to Martin Odegaard (£7.9m) and Declan Rice (£6.5m).
Odegaard is probably the biggest worry, as he limped off in the first half after a clash of knees and was later spotted with a brace on.
Assessments – and maybe some international withdrawals – will follow.
“I think he had a clash knee-to-knee and immediately he was uncomfortable. I just spoke to him, he’s not positive about it. He’s got a brace on. We’ll have to wait and see from the doctors. But we haven’t been very lucky with that either.” – Mikel Arteta on Martin Odegaard
“He’s not all right because he asked me to come off, so that’s a shame. He had a pain in his back and he could not carry on, which is something very unusual for Declan, so we’ll have to assess him and see how he is.” – Mikel Arteta on Declan Rice
Away from injuries, Arteta made six changes to his starting XI. That mostly entailed bringing back the big guns after midweek breathers but the benching of the influential Martin Zubimendi (£5.5m) was a reminder that it won’t always be the UEFA Champions League, or the EFL Cup, where the most popular Arsenal picks get rests.
“Critical. We’re playing every three days and with the intensity that we play and the requirements of the opposition, it’s impossible to maintain the same players. So the ones that are coming, they have to lift the level, the intensity and help us to win the game. We talked about many, many times and in this period, especially, I think it’s been really, really positive.” – Mikel Arteta on rotation
THREAT FROM ALL OVER
This match pretty much played out how most people were expecting it to, with West Ham looking more stubborn under the defence-first Nuno, frustrating their hosts for long periods but ultimately outclassed.
The Hammers’ job was made all the more difficult as assaults were coming from every angle.
Jurrien Timber (£5.8m) and an inverting Riccardo Calafiori (£5.7m) bombed forward from full-back and racked up six penalty box touches apiece. Both nearly scored: the former seeing a shot saved, the latter hitting the post. Timber also won Saka’s penalty.
Eberechi Eze (£7.6m) and, once Zubimendi came on, Declan Rice (£6.5m) crashed the box, the latter scoring from a saved Eze attempt. Eze really should have found the net himself earlier, blazing over from six yards.
Combined with the threat from the flanks, it was a relentless and varied bombardment.
Eight different Arsenal players had at least two shots:
All of which suggests that Gyokeres is not quite the focal point and chance magnet that owners would like him to be. Calafiori even has a better minutes-per-shot average (37.3 v 38.5) in 2025/26!
Gyokeres did have opportunities here, mind: he nearly scrambled the ball home in the move that led to Eze’s sitter, he fluffed a good headed chance, and he was inches from connecting from a Rice cross. It wouldn’t have taken much for him to end the six-match drought.
At least his game-time is good: this was his fifth 90 minutes in seven Gameweeks.
GABRIEL SURPASSES LAST YEAR’S DEFCON TOTAL
We expect clean sheets from Arsenal defenders but, based on previous seasons’ evidence, not defensive contribution (DefCon) points.
Yet might this year be different? Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.2m) delivered DefCon points for the third time this season on Saturday. That’s already more than he managed in the entirety of 2024/25!
GREEN SHOOTS FOR WEST HAM?
West Ham’s goal threat was almost non-existent. There were just four shots all game, with two set-piece headers in the 1st and 91st minutes the closest they came.
Above: West Ham’s shot map in Gameweek 7
But this game, against the division’s tightest defence, was never going to be about measuring attacking prowess. It wasn’t a match to judge Jarrod Bowen‘s (£7.7m) Fantasy potential for the upcoming favourable fixtures; he had almost as many touches in his own half as Arsenal’s.
Rather, this was always going to be a gauge of how less porous the pragmatic Nuno could make the Hammers, who have conceded more goals than any other Premier League team.
And it was better, defensively – not that it’s saying much. There was an improvement at set pieces, while Konstantinos Mavropanos (£4.4m) was commanding at centre-half. It’s three DefCon returns in five starts for him, with the latest added on Saturday.
Nuno largely kept the same side, except for bringing back Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.3m) after injury. One interesting facet was his use of substitutes, with two youngsters – midfielder Freddie Potts (£4.4m) and striker Callum Marshall (£4.4m) – brought on ahead of more senior teammates. That’s something to monitor in the weeks ahead.
VOTE FOR FANTASY FOOTBALL SCOUT IN ‘BEST IN FANTASY FOOTBALL – ORGANISATION’ HERE