Matt is an experienced sports journalist and Senior Editor at Football FanCast with 15 years of experience covering football across the Premier League, EFL and Scottish football. Since joining the publication in 2019, he has progressed from writer to Assistant Editor and Senior Editor, a position he has held since 2021.  

A Sports Journalism graduate, Matt previously served as Arsenal and Premier League Editor at VAVEL and gained club-media experience with Chesterfield FC. His journalism has appeared through the Press Association, with his work featured by Sky Sports and the Daily Mail.
 

Throughout his career, Matt has interviewed prominent football figures including Arsène Wenger, Ray Parlour, Alan Smith, Lucy Bronze and Steph Houghton, while also appearing on Arsenal Fan TV and Love Sport Radio.
 

Today, Matt leads Football FanCast's features team, overseeing opinion coverage, editorial standards and content strategy while continuing to provide detailed football analysis.

Arsenal's 1-0 win over Hull City on Saturday afternoon was classic of the Mikel Arteta era.

In defence, they never looked like conceding as they secured an 11th clean sheet in their last 15 Premier League matches. In attack, they were pretty toothless again.

Still, when your defence is that good, does what you do in the final third really matter? You'll always find a way to get over the line, precisely as the Gunners have been doing for a number of years now.

Their victory at the weekend was the 34th by this scoreline since Arteta took over. It's a remarkable stat but one they need to improve on.

The forward line needs to start contributing more and that all begins with Christos Tzolis.

Why Tzolis is an issue for Arsenal

The Greek's time at the Emirates Stadium has so far been a topsy-turvy ride.

Signed from Club Brugge to the tune of £34m, no one was expecting the world of Tzolis but the early weeks from his Arsenal career were exceptional.

The winger scored on his unofficial debut when he found the net in a pre-season friendly against Girona before he registered assists in further warm-up games with Real Betis and Borussia Dortmund. He then picked up two assists in the Community Shield against Manchester City.

Everything was pointing towards the fact that the Gunners had secured a bargain here. Alas, since returning from injury, he has struggled and looks every bit a £34m player, the type of forward you get when you don't cough up the big bucks.

Patience must be exercised but right now, it's not looking good for the 24-year-old. Against Hull, he was particularly poor, ceding possession of the ball every three touches. Every pass seemed to be overhit or underhit and his woes were compounded by the fact that he did not achieve a single take-on.

Tzolis' influence on that 1-0 win a few days ago was simply non-existent. It's worrying. Over the summer, Arsenal were supposed to sign a truly elite forward. Instead, they ended up with someone who should be playing backup.

That said, he is not the only problem in Arsenal's attack right now. Kai Havertz also needs to improve.

Why Havertz needs to improve ASAP

Like Tzolis, Germany international Havertz has endured a rocky start to the 2026/27 campaign.

His time at Arsenal has been a puzzling one. In fact, his entire time in English football has been perplexing. This is a player who has scored in two Champions League finals but he's still failed to establish consistency. He's also failed to establish a regular position.

Havertz arrived in north London as a midfielder but Arteta has transformed him into a striker and a good one at that. However, he lacks goals and we have ultimately seen that during the last few months.

Prior to scoring at Anfield in that 1-0 win over Liverpool, the 27-year-old had failed to score across his last 11 matches at club level.

The problem for the German now is that he's not even offering the one thing he was particularly exceptional at: hold-up play.

That's what set him apart from Viktor Gyokeres. The ability to receive the ball and make it stick, the ability to bring others into play.

In recent weeks, it's actually the Swede who has thrived in that regard. He delivered a goal and an assist against Slavia Prague and was impressive off the bench during the win over Hull.

All of a sudden, it appears Arteta has a few passengers in his team.

£60m star looks more finished than Tzolis and Havertz

This is a Premier League-winning squad. It's a Champions League final-worthy squad. Yet, Arteta would be lying if he said there were not a few gaping holes in this team.

For the most part, Arteta has cultivated this team into something special but the attack still leaves plenty to be desired. Havertz and Tzolis epitomise that right now. The Gunners can surely do much better.

Likewise, they can do better than Martin Zubimendi in midfield.

Last term, the Spaniard was one of the first names on the team sheet. Only Declan Rice and David Raya played more minutes than Zubimendi across all competitions in 2025/26.

At £60m, it was money well spent. He was certainly one of Berta's most successful signings.

Yet, besides winning the Premier League and World Cup, no small feats, we hasten to add, this has not been Zubimendi's year. He played very limited minutes for Spain over the summer and he's come back to restricted game time at Arsenal too.

There are two primary reasons. The first is Myles Lewis-Skelly. It was the Hale Ender who took the midfielders' place towards the back end of last season and he has not looked back.

The arrival of £75m man Bruno Guimaraes also hasn't helped. Both players have risen above Zubimendi in the pecking order. Fellow World Cup winner Mikel Merino has also seen more minutes this season than his international colleague.

The former Real Sociedad man has not become a bad player overnight but we have seen his limitations in recent weeks, leading to the statement that he has actually been worse than both Havertz and Tzolis.

Against Fleetwood, Zubimendi was not bad but he failed to control the game in the same way as someone like Bruno or Lewis-Skelly would. It said it all that the League Two opposition came away with the win.

Then, against Slavia Prague last week, the 27-year-old delivered something of an indifferent performance. He completed 83% of his passes and registered nine defensive contributions but everything felt too safe.

He screens the backline well but compared to the two players who have surpassed him in the pecking order, he lacks the same ball-carrying ability and he lacks the same punch with his passes.

Thus, with rumours of a move away emerging, his future at the Emirates looks rather bleak despite only arriving last year.