Is Ben White's new hair to blame for the first half against Chelsea?

Plus, I'll be in London this weekend

Hi,

Arsenal played pretty sluggishly in the first half of the Chelsea match this weekend. A lot of people are trying to figure out why that is the case. Was it the weather? Does Arsenal always struggle in the match after an international break? Did Chelsea play well for the first time this season? Subscribe now

I think there’s a pretty obvious reason that Arsenal struggled this weekend and that is Ben White’s new hair.

Now, to be clear, I’m not blaming Ben White at all. I’m able to separate the hair from the man. I’m not even really blaming the hair, when we get down to it, the blame is on Ben White’s hairdresser who I’m sure upsold Ben White when he walked into the shop.

You see, Arsenal has a history with players dying their hair bleach-blonde. In the summer of 2019, Mesut Ozil showed up to training camp with bleach-blonde hair. He didn’t make a league appearance until mid-November, ended up making only 18 league appearances that season, and played his last game for Arsenal in the spring of that season.

Going even further back, Aaron Ramsey showed up to the Wales training camp in the Summer of 2016 with bleach-blonde hair. His Arsenal season started on the sidelines with a lengthy hamstring injury, he made his least amount of appearances since 2011, and he had his lowest scoring season during his last six years at the club.

Now, we need to talk about the elephant in the room. Leandro Trossard.

Blonde Trossard has been with us since May roughly. His performances have not slipped up like Ozil or Ramsey’s had. There’s a solid argument for saying that his performances have gotten better. In fact, Trossard is the very player that scored the equalizing goal against Chelsea this weekend.

It is my belief that Trossard’s substitution rebalanced Arsenal’s blonde equilibrium. Not only did these two bleach-blonde players cancel each other out, but positionally Ben White played in the back on the right side and Trossard played in the front on the left side. Perfectly balanced. As all things should be. A masterstroke of a substitution by Arteta.

Now, there is good news for Arsenal fans with this hair development from Ben White. The seasons that Ozil and Ramsey both dyed their hair ended in FA Cup wins for Arsenal. Perhaps, we can see the same thing this season? Subscribe now

All the links and photos of my pets are below as per usual,

Poorly

This week’s podcast:

In this week’s Poorly Animated Arsenal Podcast we discuss pretty much everything I wrote above but in audio format and with silly animations. Fun!

Apple Podcasts | Wherever else you podcast

I’m leaving on a jet plane:

Hi, I’m coming to London this week. I hop on a plane on Wednesday night and land in London on Thursday morning. I’ll be at the Sheffield United match this weekend. Say “hi” if you see me, I’ll be the one in the Arsenal kit. Can’t miss me.

But, if you do happen to miss me during the match, right after the match I’ll be at The Armoury signing books for the book I illustrated.

Olive and Velma update: