The present has contained its problems for Arsenal but the future promises to be brighter. Their next generation have provided some of the optimism in their season and could save them millions in the transfer market.
Ian Wright was the last player to score four times in his first four starts for the Gunners; until Gabriel Martinelli's explosive introduction, anyway. Bukayo Saka has been a revelation after being reinvented as a left-back. Each should be seen on a Premier League pitch soon.
Emile Smith Rowe won’t be. Arsenal’s youngest scorer since Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and an Under-17 World Cup winner is instead focused on keeping Huddersfield Town in the second tier. Loaned to RB Leipzig last year, and briefly a teammate of Timo Werner, he has dropped down a division to take a step forward. Then, when his loan is over, he will look to emulate the young Gunners who have had breakthrough years.
“One of the main things was getting regular game time,” he said. “I felt confident coming here I would get the minutes I needed.” With eight league starts for Town – compared to just one for Arsenal and a mere 28 minutes of action in that injury-hit spell in Germany – he has.
He has also received an education, courtesy of the Championship. “It is very physical,” he said. “It was definitely a surprise to me when I first came. We played Brentford in my first game. I found it really tough and it is a physical league but at the same time there are still a lot of technical players.”
Smith Rowe is one of them. He has proved himself amid the physicality. He has been installed in the key creative role and has responded as Huddersfield have won on four of his eight starts to ease fears of demotion.
There is a theory that it is hardest to earn a place as a No 10, because many of the finest talents gravitate there. And many head for the Premier League, too. His is a doubly difficult task. “I like to be versatile and I can also play in other positions,” said Smith Rowe, also a winger. “But I probably would say I do enjoy playing in the No. 10 position the most.”
There is both an obstacle to his progress and a role model at his parent club. “At Arsenal, I look up to Mesut Ozil a lot,” he said. “I watch him in training and the movement he has and the little touches he does. For me to train with him every day, I can’t think of anything better.”
He is learning from others. A boyhood Arsenal fan has been on their books since he was 10, though his early heroes included "Invincibles" who played before then. “My dream was always to play for Arsenal,” he said. “I used to watch Thierry Henry a lot. Dennis Bergkamp was definitely a player I always looked up to. We play in a similar position. Freddie Ljungberg was there and he is working at Arsenal now, helping all the young players.” It was Ljungberg, in his interim reign after Unai Emery’s sacking, who gave Smith Rowe his only taste of Premier League football in December.
He also cast his gaze further afield in search of inspiration. "In that era when [Lionel] Messi, [Andres] Iniesta and Xavi were in the Barcelona team, I used to watch almost every game with my dad. Since Kevin de Bruyne joined [Manchester] City, I like to base my game around him. I look up to him so much. I just like the way he plays and everything he does." His top-flight debut came in a De Bruyne masterclass, with the Belgian scoring twice in City's 3-0 win at the Emirates before the Englishman came on.
Smith Rowe has contrasting educators now. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta served a deluxe apprenticeship as Pep Guardiola’s assistant. Huddersfield’s managerial duo of Danny Cowley and brother Nicky are graduates of football’s school of hard knocks after working their way up from the Essex Senior League, the ninth tier.
“It is like a family here,” Smith Rowe said. “Danny has been amazing to me. He has taught me so much; Nicky as well. They have helped me every day. I watch clips with them before every game and it has definitely been different. I can’t thank them enough.”
Arteta has retained an interest from afar. Smith Rowe spent the break in London with his family, trapped in the south when restrictions on travel were announced. He had virtual contact with his Arsenal manager, who has been studying his efforts for Huddersfield. “We have kept in touch during lockdown and we have gone through some clips,” Smith Rowe said. “He has told me what I need to improve on.”
The decision to go on loan was made in consultation with Arteta. “He said that it is probably the best thing for me to go out,” he said. The sight of his peers performing, with Reiss Nelson, Joe Willock and Eddie Nketiah also afforded opportunities, gives him an incentive to impress. Nketiah scored a hat-trick and Willock one in Saturday’s 6-0 friendly demolition of Charlton. Arteta will trust in youthful talent.
“You can see he has given the young players chances and that is something all young players should thrive off. When you see others playing you want to push yourself and get in that position as well,” Smith Rowe said.
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Arsenal step up training ahead of Premier League return
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It can feel as though Saka and Martinelli have overtaken him but the first player born in the 2000s to score for Arsenal is only 19. Some friendly competition is spurring him on. “I am obviously happy for all the other boys but I definitely want to go back and play as well. I think it will be great if more young players play.”
His own chance could come in autumn. “Nothing has been confirmed yet,” he said. “The main thing is to finish the season with Huddersfield as strong and as well as I can and then go back to Arsenal in pre-season and we will see what happens.”
Arteta’s approach, he feels, fits in with the Arsenal ethos. “Even when I was growing up in the academy there were always young players getting chances – Jack Wilshere, Alex Iwobi - so it is good at Arsenal.” At times, Arsene Wenger’s faith in youth proved a profitable policy. Now it could save Arsenal a fortune. “Definitely,” Smith Rowe said.
It is a club at a crossroads, a difficult balancing act rendered harder by the financial impact of coronavirus on finances. Arteta's ageing big earners Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are out of contract in 2021. Alexandre Lacazette's future is also the subject of speculation. The loanee Dani Ceballos is younger but due to return to Real Madrid this summer while Henrikh Mkhitaryan may not play for the club again.
Smith Rowe and his contemporaries represent the organic approach and the cheaper one as Arsenal try and navigate a period of transition but prioritising them could also be popular. “The fans love seeing young players play,” he said. They should have several to watch in the next few years. But for the next few weeks, Huddersfield will be benefitting from Smith Rowe’s precocious gifts.
The years Ramadan fell in May
500 People from Gaza enter France
115 Special programme for artists
25 Evacuation of injured and sick
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
hall of shame
SUNDERLAND 2002-03
No one has ended a Premier League season quite like Sunderland. They lost each of their final 15 games, taking no points after January. They ended up with 19 in total, sacking managers Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson and losing 3-1 to Charlton when they scored three own goals in eight minutes.
SUNDERLAND 2005-06
Until Derby came along, Sunderland’s total of 15 points was the Premier League’s record low. They made it until May and their final home game before winning at the Stadium of Light while they lost a joint record 29 of their 38 league games.
HUDDERSFIELD 2018-19
Joined Derby as the only team to be relegated in March. No striker scored until January, while only two players got more assists than goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The mid-season appointment Jan Siewert was to end his time as Huddersfield manager with a 5.3 per cent win rate.
ASTON VILLA 2015-16
Perhaps the most inexplicably bad season, considering they signed Idrissa Gueye and Adama Traore and still only got 17 points. Villa won their first league game, but none of the next 19. They ended an abominable campaign by taking one point from the last 39 available.
FULHAM 2018-19
Terrible in different ways. Fulham’s total of 26 points is not among the lowest ever but they contrived to get relegated after spending over £100 million (Dh457m) in the transfer market. Much of it went on defenders but they only kept two clean sheets in their first 33 games.
LA LIGA: Sporting Gijon, 13 points in 1997-98.
BUNDESLIGA: Tasmania Berlin, 10 points in 1965-66
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
TO ALL THE BOYS: ALWAYS AND FOREVER
Directed by: Michael Fimognari
Starring: Lana Condor and Noah Centineo
Two stars
Miss Granny
Director: Joyce Bernal
Starring: Sarah Geronimo, James Reid, Xian Lim, Nova Villa
3/5
(Tagalog with Eng/Ar subtitles)
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
A Prayer Before Dawn
Director: Jean-Stephane Sauvaire
Starring: Joe Cole, Somluck Kamsing, Panya Yimmumphai
Three stars
About Krews
Founder: Ahmed Al Qubaisi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Founded: January 2019
Number of employees: 10
Sector: Technology/Social media
Funding to date: Estimated $300,000 from Hub71 in-kind support
'The Sky is Everywhere'
Director:Josephine Decker
Stars:Grace Kaufman, Pico Alexander, Jacques Colimon
Rating:2/5
UK's plans to cut net migration
Under the UK government’s proposals, migrants will have to spend 10 years in the UK before being able to apply for citizenship.
Skilled worker visas will require a university degree, and there will be tighter restrictions on recruitment for jobs with skills shortages.
But what are described as "high-contributing" individuals such as doctors and nurses could be fast-tracked through the system.
Language requirements will be increased for all immigration routes to ensure a higher level of English.
Rules will also be laid out for adult dependants, meaning they will have to demonstrate a basic understanding of the language.
The plans also call for stricter tests for colleges and universities offering places to foreign students and a reduction in the time graduates can remain in the UK after their studies from two years to 18 months.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
RACE CARD
6.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (Dirt) 1,200m
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (D) 1,900m
7.40pm: Handicap (TB) Dh102,500 (D) 2,000m
8.15pm: Conditions (TB) Dh120,000 (D) 1,600m
8.50pm: Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (D) 1,600m
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,400m
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
The specs: 2018 Nissan Patrol Nismo
Price: base / as tested: Dh382,000
Engine: 5.6-litre V8
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 428hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 560Nm @ 3,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.7L / 100km
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
The bio
Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite travel destination: Maldives and south of France
Favourite pastime: Family and friends, meditation, discovering new cuisines
Favourite Movie: Joker (2019). I didn’t like it while I was watching it but then afterwards I loved it. I loved the psychology behind it.
Favourite Author: My father for sure
Favourite Artist: Damien Hurst
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
More coverage from the Future Forum
Who is Ramon Tribulietx?
Born in Spain, Tribulietx took sole charge of Auckland in 2010 and has gone on to lead the club to 14 trophies, including seven successive Oceania Champions League crowns. Has been tipped for the vacant New Zealand national team job following Anthony Hudson's resignation last month. Had previously been considered for the role.
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
