Arsenal’s captaincy crisis is very real at this most crucial time – but how costly could it be?

Petr Cech Arsenal captain

Out with the old, in with the new. In some respects, anyway.

One of Unai Emery’s first major decisions as Arsenal manager was to pick a new club captain. Rather than ripping up the past, he upheld a club tradition – albeit a relatively recent one – of naming someone who wouldn’t play.

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Richard Jolly

Richard Jolly also writes for the National, the Guardian, the Observer, the Straits Times, the Independent, Sporting Life, Football 365 and the Blizzard. He has written for the FourFourTwo website since 2018 and for the magazine in the 1990s and the 2020s, but not in between. He has covered 1500+ games and remembers a disturbing number of the 0-0 draws.