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Even if you believed Kohli-cam to be the most egregious example of a team game being turned into a personality cult, you might just find yourself missing it

Karthik Krishnaswamy16-Jan-20222:06

Is Rishabh Pant a dark horse to be India’s next Test captain?

They were thirty-sixed in Adelaide, and there was no Virat Kohli for the rest of the series. How did India cope? Rather well, as it turned out.Back spasms ruled Kohli out in Johannesburg, and a younger, quieter stand-in oversaw an unexpected defeat during which, in some eyes, India’s efforts on the field lacked the full-time captain’s energy and aggression. Kohli returned in Cape Town and poured his energy and aggression onto every blade of grass and into the stump mic. India lost in more or less the same way.Captains get far more credit for victory and far more blame for defeat than they ever deserve. They are as good as their teams happen to be, and Kohli’s results across formats are the best of any full-time India captain because he led India’s best-ever team. It’s as simple as that.Well, almost as simple.Related

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Go back to Kohli’s first-ever Test as captain. Not yet full-time captain, he made – or was involved in making – two decisions that immediately spelled out what his captaincy would be like, and how it would be different from anything that came before.He dropped R Ashwin and played the debutant Karn Sharma, in the belief that wristspin would bring quicker wickets than fingerspin on Australian pitches. Then, on the final afternoon, Kohli kept playing his shots and going after an outlandish fourth-innings target even after India had lost every other recognised batter, this when he had already scored hundreds in both innings and had the chance to pull down shutters and try to bat out a draw.Australia scored at five-and-a-half runs an over against Karn’s legspin over their two innings, and he never played Test cricket again. And Kohli’s willingness to risk defeat in the pursuit of victory ended up in defeat.Seemingly impulsive selections and the preference for the outright aggressive option remained a marked tendency during Kohli’s early years as captain. St Lucia 2016 was a case in point, when India left out Cheteshwar Pujara and M Vijay and brought in Rohit Sharma for his freer-scoring style, which they perhaps desired with the forecast suggesting that significant time would be lost to rain. India won despite an entire day getting washed out, as it transpired, even if Rohit didn’t make a hugely significant contribution to the result.It wasn’t the first or last time Pujara found himself out of the XI following a short stretch of poor form. Ajinkya Rahane would experience this too, during the South Africa tour of 2017-18. It would seem an irony, then, that the last year of Kohli’s captaincy would feature an unwavering belief in Pujara and Rahane despite both experiencing far longer streaks of even leaner form.This reflected, possibly, a tempering of Kohli’s early impulsiveness. Or it perhaps just reflected a greater belief in his two middle-order comrades after they had both proven their ability multiple times in difficult situations, and a recognition that their low averages over a prolonged period may have had as much to do with the bowlers and conditions India were facing, Test match after Test match, as any drop in their ability. Kohli’s returns over the same period were hardly any better.Kohli’s early trigger-happiness, then, may have simply been a consequence of having a younger and less experienced core group of players. As they grew older and more settled in the side, they may simply have become harder to displace. It’s a natural cycle that all teams go through.Shami, Bumrah, Ishant – the pace bowling riches that flourished under Kohli get a doff of his hat•Getty ImagesThe other quality Kohli showed in his Adelaide captaincy debut, however, never changed, and he always remained willing to risk defeat in the pursuit of Test wins. That quality would come to define his captaincy.Nowhere was this more evident than in his consistent use of five-bowler combinations. His predecessor MS Dhoni had also been keen on it, but the fifth bowler was usually someone in the mould of Stuart Binny or Ravindra Jadeja, who in the early stage of his Test career was viewed as a batting allrounder, even if that aspect of his game took longer to live up to its potential than his bowling.In contrast, Kohli played five genuine bowlers in his first two Tests after that 2014-15 Australia tour, when the post-Dhoni era began in full earnest. In Fatullah, he picked three fast bowlers – Ishant Sharma, Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav – and two spinners – Ashwin and Harbhajan Singh – and if a one-off Test against Bangladesh seems like the easiest assignment for a brave selection, he went in with two fast bowlers – Ishant and Aaron – and three spinners – Ashwin, Harbhajan and Amit Mishra – in India’s next Test in Galle. All five were bowlers first, and for all his ability with the bat, Ashwin had never batted above No. 8 before those two Tests. And with Dhoni no longer in the side, the five bowlers were batting below Wriddhiman Saha, whose batting ability was at that stage largely unproven.It didn’t quite come off in Galle – even though it took a freak innings from Dinesh Chandimal to turn what looked like an inevitable Sri Lanka defeat into an unexpected win – and India tempered their approach as they came back to win the series, with Binny recalled as a hedge-your-bets allrounder. But Kohli had shown his willingness to sacrifice batting depth to heighten India’s chances of picking up 20 wickets, and it would remain a feature of his captaincy.It was fitting then, with Jadeja – now a genuine batting allrounder overseas – out injured, that Kohli’s last Test as captain featured five out-and-out bowlers, with Ashwin and Shardul Thakur making up a hit-or-miss combination of lower-order batters at Nos. 7 and 8.But how much was this down to Kohli, and how much down to Ravi Shastri, in both his stints as head coach? Five bowlers was also a feature of Anil Kumble’s brief and highly successful tenure, during which Ashwin often batted at No. 6. With Kohli out injured for the decider of a tense home series against Australia in Dharamsala, Kumble and the stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane chose to give the wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav a debut rather than pick a like-for-like middle-order batter.And when Rahane stood in after 36 all out, India brought in Jadeja as a second spinner at the MCG rather than replace Kohli with a specialist batter.Kohli, Shastri, Kumble, Rahane and even Rahul Dravid, then, all seemed to share the same vision as far as picking five bowlers was concerned. And you can see why. It was a sound idea, and India had the players to make it work.In a sense, Kohli was lucky to take over the captaincy when the bulk of those players, particularly a promising group of bowlers, were all just beginning to mature at the Test level. Ashwin, Jadeja, Ishant, Umesh and Mohammed Shami had experienced most of their growing pains under Dhoni.You could argue, however, that Kohli and Shastri laid down the fitness standards that drove those bowlers to become the best versions of themselves. Over the course of their tenures, the fast bowlers went from being able to deliver one spell of high intensity during a day’s play and then losing steam, to being able to come back with the same intensity over multiple spells. Bharat Arun must take some of the credit for their upskilling as well.Ishant exemplified the extent of growth that was possible in this regime. He had averaged 37.30 in 61 Tests until the end of 2014. Since the start of 2015 – which is when Kohli became full-time captain – he has averaged 25.01 over 44 Tests, pitching the ball significantly fuller and closer to off stump than he used to, and rediscovering his inswinger.And as the incumbents became more threatening bowlers, newcomers came in looking like they had already played 20 Tests. One of them, Jasprit Bumrah, was both a once-in-a-generation genius and a product of the BCCI’s system, having been recognised as a prospect as far back as his stint at the National Cricket Academy in 2013, when he began building up the fitness he needed to ensure his body could withstand the demands of his unorthodox action. The other, Mohammed Siraj, was an even clearer product of a smoothly-paved talent pathway, having performed brilliantly on multiple India A tours before making his Test debut.As with everything else, Kohli may have only had a limited role to play in the rise of those two bowlers. But it’s not a knock on his captaincy. It’s just a reminder that a team’s success is the culmination of a number of processes overseen by a number of skilled decision-makers, of which the captain is only one. It’s probably healthier anyway when less power is concentrated in one pair of hands, even if – at the peak of his powers as batter and captain – it seemed as if Kohli was Indian cricket’s biggest power centre.Virat Kohli arrives at India’s training session•BCCIThe aura around Kohli’s captaincy, in truth, was much larger than the actual scope of his role, and this was simply a reflection of how aggressively personality-driven cricket’s marketing and packaging has become. Even Sachin Tendulkar didn’t have a dedicated camera following his every movement to ensure that the producer could bring you every pump of his fist and every raise of his eyebrow. And as the camera sought Kohli out, Kohli played up to it, a symbiotic relationship that filled our screens with frenzied send-offs, fingers on lips to quieten the opposition’s fans, and hands cupped around ears to raise the volume of India’s fans.This, of course, is who Kohli is, even if it’s a hyperreal version of him. Even if that on-field personality’s contribution to India’s results was negligible, it’s the part of his captaincy that will be remembered most fondly – or, if you fall on that side of the divide, with the most distaste. It’s possible that he’ll remain just as expressive when he is no longer captain, but it’s likely that Kohli-cam will play a smaller role in our lives, leaving you with curiously mixed emotions. Even if you believed Kohli-cam to be the most egregious example of a team game being turned into a personality cult, you might just find yourself missing it.

The New York Yankees’ path back to the World Series is as subtle as a six-ton wrecking ball. They are going to hit as many balls into the air as possible. They take an average of 69 swings per game. If two of them produce fly balls that go over the fence they win about 70 percent of the time.

It is that simple. The finer points of their game matter little. Like no other team in baseball except perhaps the Los Angeles Dodgers, their brothers in playing Airborne Baseball, the Yankees are leaning heavily into hitting the bottom third of the baseball to launch fly balls.

Up and down its lineup, New York has adopted swing changes and attack angles to get the ball in the air. They are doing so at such a preposterous rate that our traditional measurements of what makes a good October team—such as avoiding strikeouts and hitting with runners in scoring position—are meaningless. In fact, these 2025 Yankees are way worse at strikeouts and RISP than the 2024 Yankees—and that is by design.

The highlights:

The Yankees hit 59 home runs in August. Only the 2019 Yankees ever hit more in the month. Thirty-two teams have hit 50 homers in August. The Yankees did it with the fewest hits (227).

Most Home Runs in August, All Time

HR

Hits

Pct.

1. 2019 Yankees

74

292

25.3%

2. 2025 Yankees

59

227

26%

2. 2023 Phillies

59

267

22.1%

2. 2019 Twins

59

284

20.8%

The Yankees have the biggest increase in fly ball rate (+3.9%) in MLB, the greatest average bat speed (73.1 mph), the second biggest increase in launch angle (+2.7%, behind only the White Sox) and the highest fly ball rate other than the Dodgers.The four teams who hit the most fly balls (Dodgers: 31%; Yankees: 30.6%; Cubs: 29.8%; Tigers: 29.3%) are all in playoff position, led by the Dodgers, who lead MLB in fly ball rate for a fifth straight year:The team that is last in fly balls? That’s the team with the best record in baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers (22.8%). They zig while everyone else zags.The Yankees have increased their reliance on hitting the ball in the air, as an incredible 13-game stretch to close out last month showed; they hit 38 home runs compared to 30 ground ball hits and 118 fly balls compared to 117 ground balls over that span.

Why and how are the Yankees leaning into this style of hitting? Here are some of the underlying reasons.

1. The Yankees sacrifice contact for power.

It sounds heretical, but RISP and strikeouts are overrated in today’s hitting world. RISP often is misused. The industry has devalued batting average and yet it still gets used in RISP. Move a runner over from second base with no outs or get someone in from third base with less than two outs on a fly ball and neither helps RISP batting average.

When the Yankees led the world in home runs in August, they were 17th in RISP (.253), 20th in batting average (.221) and 26th in strikeouts (263). And they were 16–12.

New York is far worse this season than last at making contact and RISP, which sounds like a problem but it’s not. It’s a tradeoff they make willingly to hit that magic threshold of two home runs per game.

Yankees Year-to-Year Comparison

K% (Rank)

RISP (Rank)

HR/G (Rank)

2024

21.2% (9)

.261 (10)

1.46 (1)

2025

22.9% (20)

.248 (17)

1.70 (1)

2. It’s all about the second home run.

Being a one-path-to-victory team is risky. If their opponent keeps them in the park, the Yankees are in trouble. This breakdown defines how important the home run is to New York.

Yankees’ Record by HR Hit

Games

W-L

Pct.

1 or fewer

75 (T-1 w/ Dodgers)

33–42

.440

2 or more

62 (T-1 w/ Dodgers)

43–19

.694

3. The Yankees are swinging up on the ball much more than last year.

Yankees hitting coach James Rowson and assistants Casey Dykes and Pat Roessler are masters at teaching controlled aggressiveness: Limit chase, but when you get a pitch in your zone don’t hesitate to put your “A” swing on it. And this year, that “A” swing includes a mechanical emphasis to bring the barrel to the baseball on an upward track.

Here is how much the Yankees’ offensive approach has changed:

Yankees Hitting Profile Comparison

Fly ball% (Rank)

Launch angle (Rank)

2024

26.7% (16)

12.7° (26)

2025

30.6% (2)

15.4° (5)

4. Yankee player acquisition and development are influenced by fly ball hitting.

Three of the five players with the biggest increase in fly ball rate this year are Yankees, two of whom were acquired last year or this year.

Player

Increase in fly ball rate

1. Corbin Carroll, D-Backs

+11.6%

2. Jazz Chisholm, Yankees

+11.3%

3. Anthony Volpe, Yankees

+9.1%

4. Lars Nootbaar, Cardinals

+8.2%

5. Ryan McMahon, Yankees

+7.6%

That’s not all. Austin Wells (+5.7%), Paul Goldschmidt (+3.2), Jose Caballero (+2.5) and Cody Bellinger (+1.8%) all have boosted their fly ball rates this year. That gives the Yankees .

VERDUCCI: How Former Top Yankees Prospect Anthony Volpe Became Unplayable

Bellinger started hitting fly balls as soon as he joined the Yankees in spring training. He moved closer to the plate—back where he was in 2019—and emphasized getting the ball in the air to the pull side, a skill he had lost. Now he is hitting more fly balls than ever in his career (36.7%).

Aaron Judge made his swing change in 2022, the year he hit 62 home runs, to get the ball in the air more. He has been a model of consistency since then in terms of keeping the ball off the ground using a 15° attack angle, well above the average of 10°, which you can see every time he takes a practice swing.

Over the past three years, Judge has grounded out to the right side of the infield just four times (not including topped balls in front of the plate fielded by the pitcher or catcher). He has not grounded out to first base since Sept. 21, 2022.

5. Jazz Chisholm is a good example of how the Yankees tailor swings to get the ball airborne.

Before he was traded to the Yankees, Chisholm was a ground ball hitter. Now he is an extreme fly ball hitter who, like Bellinger, is hitting a career-high rate of fly balls (36.3%, well above MLB average of 24%).

How did the Yankees do this? They changed the path of his barrel to the ball.

We can measure that path change with Statcast. Chisholm has increased both his attack angle and attack direction.

Think of attack angle as a vertical gauge—how far the barrel works in an upward plane to meet the ball. You can see in the measurements below that Chisholm is swinging in a more upward path to the pitch—much steeper than the MLB average of 10°.

Think of attack direction as a horizontal gauge. Chisholm made a major adjustment with his attack direction. Last year he was at 2°, which is the MLB average. He was a neutral hitter in terms of where he hit the ball. But this year his bat is moving much more in a path toward the right side of the field—hitting the ball out front. It is the path of a pull hitter.

Chisholm has hit a career-high 26 home runs. Here is what the changes look like in terms of data:

Chisholm Swing Metrics

Attack Angle

Attack Direction

MPH

SLG

2024

14°

2°

72

.436

2025

16°

5°

74

.487

And here is what the changes visually look like. He is dropping the barrel lower as it enters the hitting zone so that he can swing up more on the ball. He is trying to catch the bottom third of the baseball and to hit it more out front of the plate, the better to generate pull-side balls in the air.

These are two nearly identical pitches: fastballs from a righthander down and middle. The one from last season is a ground ball single up the middle. The one from this season is a pull-side home run.

It doesn't look fun to be standing in the batter's box just a mere 60 feet and six inches away from Colorado Rockies flamethrower Seth Halvorsen.

That's exactly the situation Washington Nationals outfielder Alex Call found himself in Wednesday night in a pinch-hitting appearance with two outs in the ninth inning at Nationals Park. Taking the place of teammate Jacob Young, Call was barely settled in the box when Halvorsen gave him a scare.

Halvorsen leaned back and fired in a four-seam fastball at 102.1 mph that zoomed behind Call's back and hit the wall behind home plate. Ball one.

That'll wake you up.

According to Bailey Freeman of Foolish Baseball, that was the fastest pitch to miss the plate by at least seven feet in the pitch tracking era (since 2008)—and well ahead of the second-fastest offering, an 88.3 mph pitchout from Denny Bautista in '08.

Call went on to strike out on the next three pitches: a 91.3 mph splitter, a 101.7 mph fastball and a 102 mph four-seamer. But can you blame him?

Directors from an embattled USA Cricket (USAC) board have called for the ICC’s immediate intervention to remove a rival group of directors, including the chair Venu Pisike, as the fallout and divide from the board’s suspension continues to deepen. They have also asked the ICC to conduct an investigation into the organisation’s “collapse.”In a statement issued on Tuesday by two current directors, Arjun Rao Gona and Kuljit Singh Nijjar, and Patricia Whittaker, who was removed by USAC last year as an independent director (she is legally contesting the termination), have also asked the ICC to conduct a forensic audit of USAC dealings and make the findings public. Gona and Nijjar are elected directors.”We call for immediate and decisive intervention not to punish, but to rebuild what has been broken,” the trio said in the statement. “This is no longer a crisis of management; it is a test of integrity and courage.” The directors’ statement follows USAC’s media release last week, where the board complained it could not “comprehend” the ICC’s decision on September 23 to suspend it.Related

• USA Cricket calls ICC suspension 'one of the most difficult moments' in its history

• USA cricket crisis worsens as USAC files for bankruptcy

• ICC suspends USA Cricket board

Pisike chaired a USAC Board meeting on October 1, after which USAC said it was filing for bankruptcy as part of a financial restructure. That decision was taken by five directors, including Pisike, Srini Salver, David Haubert, Pintoo Shah and Anj Balusu (USAC currently has nine directors after Whittaker’s exit). Four directors at that meeting – Gona, Nijjar, Nadia Gruny and Atul Rai – exited in protest.In a statement of his own issued on Tuesday, Rai said USAC’s public statement to its members on Friday was “not authorised by the Board” while alleging it was “clearly an abuse of power and authority.”The ICC Board decided to suspend USAC, citing “repeated and continued breaches of its obligation” as a member. The ICC’s major concern will be if the cycle of events since then could affect USAC securing NGB (National Governing Body) status from the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), necessary for all sports that are part of the 2028 Los Angeles Games.The ICC’s Normalisation Committee drew up a six-step roadmap for that, starting with an organisational revamp of USAC where three new independent directors replace the existing Board, which would step down and pave the way for fresh elections. The ICC would simultaneously carry out a comprehensive review of the USAC constitution to bring governance and structural reforms to a body enmeshed in controversies since 2019 when it was awarded Associate status.Gona, Nijjar and Whittaker want the Normalisation Committee to take control of USAC immediately and “go beyond administrative control and conduct a full, independent investigation into the root causes of USA Cricket’s collapse, identifying every act of constitutional breach, misuse of authority, and conflict of interest.”The three have also suggested appointing five new independent directors once the USAC constitution has been amended.”Conduct a full forensic audit of all financial transactions, contracts, appointments, and legal decisions taken under the current regime, and publish the findings to the public to restore trust, confidence and transparency.”Safeguard players, competitions, and development programs during this transition, ensuring that athletes and fans do not suffer for failures of leadership.”

Harold “Dickie” Bird, one of the most beloved umpires in cricket’s history, has died at the age of 92.Bird, who officiated in 66 Tests and 69 ODIs, including three World Cup finals, was synonymous with his home county Yorkshire, for who he began his career as a top-order batter in 1956, and later went on to serve as Yorkshire president in 2014.He averaged 20.71 in 93 first-class matches, making two centuries including a best of 181 not out against Glamorgan in 1959. But when, after moving to Leicestershire in 1960, his career was cut short by injury four years later, his switch to umpiring would set him on the path to becoming a household name.Bird’s idiosyncrasies would become part of his appeal, including his famously anxious attitude to timekeeping. Having made his umpiring debut in May 1970, he travelled to London for his second match – Surrey versus Yorkshire at The Oval – arrived at 6am for an 11am start, and was caught by a policeman attempting to scale the wall of the still-locked ground.As an umpire, he was famously reluctant to raise his finger for lbw appeals – several of his decisions would have been quickly over-turned in the age of DRS. In mitigation, he was at least consistent in offering the benefit of the doubt to batters … with one possible exception. On the morning of his final Test, England versus India at Lord’s, he arrived in the middle with tears in his eyes after a guard of honour from the players. And duly gave Mike Atherton out lbw in the first over of the match.Other memorable moments included his decision, during the West Indies Test at Old Trafford in 1995, to call a halt to play for an excess of sunlight, which had been reflecting off a greenhouse behind the bowler’s arm. In that same fixture, as related by Atherton in his autobiography, Bird dropped the pocket-ful of marbles that he used to count the deliveries in an over.”Play was halted momentarily while Dickie scrambled around on his hands and knees looking for his counters,” Atherton wrote. “‘I’ve lost me marbles! I’ve lost me marbles! He cried. Most of us thought he had lost his marbles a long time ago.”He was frequently the victim of practical jokes – particularly at the hands of Ian Botham and Allan Lamb. On one occasion, Lamb arrived at the middle with his 1980s brick-style mobile phone still in his pocket. Bird duly stashed it in his coat, whereupon Botham rang the device from the dressing-room, telling a startled Bird to pass on a message for his team-mate to get a move on.Bird himself had believed his likeliest route to sporting success was football, although as he related in his autobiography, a cartilage operation on his knee at the age of 15 put paid to that ambition. Instead, he became a fixture in Barnsley’s 1st XI cricket team, where his team-mates included Michael Parkinson – who would later become a world-renowned chat-show host – and later, Geoffrey Boycott.”I have known Dickie nearly 70 years as a friend,” Boycott wrote in his tribute to Bird. “When I was 15 I was taken to Barnsley Cricket Club by my Uncle Algy. I was in awe of him because every week Dickie was the star batsman.”Boycott added that Bird was a “very good technical batsman” but added that “nerves got the better of him” during his Yorkshire career. As an umpire, however, he described him as “absolutely brilliant”.”Players all over the world respected and admired him for his firmness, fairness, and he did it with a sense of humour. He was loved by so many and became a legend.”In 2009, Bird was honoured with a bronze statue on Barnsley’s Church Lane, set in his familiar umpiring pose with one finger raised. The council was soon obliged to place it on a higher plinth than had been intended, due to the public’s temptation to hang objects on said finger.He was appointed an MBE in 1986 and an OBE in 2012 in recognition of his outstanding contribution to cricket, having stood in his last first-class match in 1998, Yorkshire versus Warwickshire at Headingley.In a statement, Yorkshire confirmed that he had died peacefully at home”He leaves behind a legacy of sportsmanship, humility, and joy — and a legion of admirers across generations,” Yorkshire added.”The thoughts of everyone at the Yorkshire County Cricket Club are with Dickie’s family and friends during this time. He will be truly missed by all at the Club having spent an incredible amount of time in support of everyone here and will be remembered as one the greatest characters in Yorkshire’s history.”

MatériaMais Notícias

Grande liderança dentro e fora de campo, o zagueiro Igor Rabello completou cinco anos como jogador do Atlético-MG, tornando-se assim o jogador com mais tempo de casa no atual elenco do Galo. Contratado junto ao Botafogo no final de 2013, atleta estreou com a camisa alvinegra em 20 de janeiro de 2019, na goleada por 5 a 0 sobre o Boa Esporte, pelo Campeonato Mineiro, na Arena Independência.

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Desde então, o zagueiro atuou pela equipe mineira em 168 partidas, marcando seis gols, e conquistou quatro campeonatos mineiros (2020, 2021, 2022 e 2023), o Campeonato Brasileiro e a Copa do Brasil, em 2021, e a Supercopa do Brasil, em 2022.

➡️ Siga o Lance! no WhatsApp e acompanhe em tempo real as principais notícias do esporte

Apesar da trajetória vitoriosa no Atlético-MG, nem tudo foi alegria para o jogador nesse período. No dia 22 de agosto de 2022, ele sofreu uma grave lesão ao romper o ligamento cruzado anterior do joelho direito durante um treinamento na Cidade do Galo, voltando aos gramados apenas em 2023.

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Antes da lesão, Igor Rabello havia despertado o interesse do São Paulo, mas ele optou por seguir em Belo Horizonte, renovando o contrato.

Em 2024, o zagueiro pode ser pentacampeão mineiro, ao lado de outros três atletas que venceram as quatro últimas edições do campeonato: os laterais Mariano e Guilherme Arana e o goleiro Matheus Mendes.

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Arsenal are now looking to get ahead in the race to sign Levante striker Karl Etta Eyong, amid widespread interest from some top Premier League clubs.

The Gunners made it nine wins on the bounce in all competitions on Saturday afternoon, courtesy of a 2-0 victory at Burnley, with their backline once again looking very strong, limiting the Clarets to an xG of just 0.41.

Goals from Declan Rice and Viktor Gyokeres secured all three points, with the latter bagging his first Premier League goal since September, displaying his striker’s instincts by nodding home from close range.

Mikel Arteta is very well-stocked in attacking areas on paper, although Gabriel Jesus has suffered persistent injury issues and Kai Havertz has featured just once in the Premier League this season due to a knee problem.

As such, it could make sense to bring in a new striker to compete for Gyokeres’ starting spot, and the north Londoners are now looking to sign a highly-rated young forward.

Arsenal looking to get ahead in Etta Eyong race

According to a report from Spain, Arsenal are now looking to get ahead in the race to sign Levante striker Etta Eyong, who is being targeted by a number of the Premier League’s top clubs, with Manchester City and Manchester United also keen.

Signing a new striker isn’t a priority for the Gunners, but the 22-year-old is of interest, and a release clause of around just €40m (£35m) means he would be an affordable option.

Ideally, however, the forward would prefer to play in La Liga, so it remains to be seen whether the interested English clubs are able to tempt him into a move.

Stan Kroenke & co clearly mean business, having set out to sign another striker, despite Arteta already having the likes of Gyokeres, Havertz and Jesus to choose from.

With Arsenal looking to compete on all fronts, however, it makes sense to have squad depth, and the Levante star could be an exciting addition, having been lauded as “powerful” by journalist Kai Watson.

The Cameroonian has certainly hit the ground running at Levante since arriving from Villarreal in the summer, scoring five goals in his opening seven games for the La Liga side, while he also has three assists to his name this season.

There are question marks over whether Etta Eyong would be a necessary signing, but he is showing very promising signs in La Liga, and £35m would be a reasonable fee.

Viktor Gyokeres named as one of the best strikers in the world The Best 15 Strikers in World Football Ranked (2025)

Who is the best number nine right now?

ByCharlie Smith Nov 20, 2025

Peter Schmeichel has slammed the business Manchester United did during the summer transfer window, branding one signing as “weird”.

Man Utd's summer signings yet to make major impact

After finishing 15th in the Premier League last season, the Man United squad was always going to need major surgery in the summer, but their new additions, despite showing some promising signs, are yet to make a major impact.

Matheus Cunha has largely been utliised as a substitute in recent weeks, after injury derailed the Brazilian forward’s start to the season, while Bryan Mbeumo has just one goal to his name in the opening seven league matches.

With Andre Onana and Altay Bayindir both making errors to give away goals at the start of the season, it was always going to be important for Ruben Amorim to bring in a new goalkeeper, and Senne Lammens is off to a solid start, keeping a clean sheet in the 2-0 win over Sunderland.

Benjamin Sesko is also starting to find his form, scoring in his last two Premier League outings, but Schmeichel has criticised the decision to sign the Slovenian in the first place on the Sacked in the Morning podcast.

The former Man United goalkeeper said: “The signing of Benjamin Šeško was a little bit weird to me because we have Rasmus Hojlund, who has been starved of service for two years.

The Dane also went on to say: “You spend £70 million+ on Sesko, when we don’t have the number six we should have, and there’s the goalkeeping position as well.

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“This season alone, we’ve conceded nine goals from goalkeeping errors. When I played, when Edwin van der Sar played, when David de Gea played, the brief was win 10 points a season; you don’t give points away.

“Why did we bring someone in that we didn’t need? Because the head of recruitment comes from Leipzig [Sesko’s former club], and he’s got to make a mark.”

Hojlund off to flying start at Napoli

Sesko is starting to come good, but it is clear to see why Schmeichel doesn’t believe he was a necessary signing, with Hojlund making a flying start to life at Napoli, scoring four goals in his opening six matches in all competitions.

The 61-year-old was also right to assess that signing a new goalkeeper was far more important, given just how poor Andre Onana has been since his arrival, with Nemanja Matic famously singling the Cameroonian out for heavy criticism last season.

That said, while it is still early days, Lammens exhibited promising signs on his debut against Sunderland, making two saves from inside the box to keep the Black Cats at bay, and preventing 0.94 goals.

It must also be noted that Hojlund was very poor last season, scoring just four Premier League goals, so it is understandable that Amorim wanted to bring in an upgrade, and Sesko is now finding his feet.