Admittedly, not the most exciting style of play from the Gunners. Their defense is resolute, allowing just 26 goals in 37 games, seven fewer than anybody else in the league. (Analytics say it should be even better: nobody else in the league had fewer than 42 expected goals allowed, while Arsenal had just 27.3.) They had eight 1-0 wins this season; nobody else had more than five.

And they’ve also been leaders of a set piece revolution, with more goals than ever coming from dead-ball situations rather than open play.

They set the Premier League record for goals from corners (18), and scored nearly as many goals on set pieces (24) as they allowed in total (26). Congratulations to set piece coach Nicolas Jover, who has been credited as a major part of Arsenal’s turnaround. He gets a bonus for every set piece goal they score.

In some ways, Arsenal’s strategy is brutish and simple. The corner is an uncontested opportunity to put the ball into scoring position, so instead of playing it short or passing to an open player at the top of the box, Arsenal simply kick the ball directly into the goal area, where a slew of players are clustered. The clustering doesn’t just increase the chances that the ball finds its way to a friendly foot or head, it also makes it hard for the goalie — the one guy on the field who can use his hands! — to fight through the traffic.

Michael Caley of Expecting Goals wrote the definitive piece about this strategy, which he termed “the Meat Wall.” Soccer embracing this strategy is one of those well duh moments like the NBA discovering that three-pointers are worth more than two-pointers.

Watching the plays in action is actually quite impressive. There’s an intricacy and precision to the play design and execution that feels a lot like watching a great inbounds play in basketball (obviously) or …

AMERICAN FOOTBALL! Arteta is famously friends with Rams coach Sean McVay, linked by mutual team owner Stan Kroenke. (“American football is if every soccer play was a set-piece,” McVay said.) Midfielder Mikel Merino said he got Saints defensive end Cam Jordan to teach him a chop move when they were shooting a commercial together, which he uses on set pieces.

I’m probably overstating the impact of America’s favorite sport on the world’s favorite sport, but you can see similarities. The way Arsenal uses bodies to open up space for a potential scoring threat without letting the goalkeeper through really does look like a good blocking scheme.

The work’s not done for Arsenal. They’re in the Champions League final, hoping to win the first title in club history … although PSG are heavy favorites.

With the Premier League wrapped up heading into the final weekend of the season, Arsenal fans can have an absolutely perfect Decision Day: sitting back, title in hand, watching their biggest rivals, Tottenham, fight to avoid relegation. Can you imagine? (More on that in On Deck.)

The Victoire were powered by Québécois stars. There were 10 Québécois players in the PWHL (LPHF en Français) this year, and seven of them played for the Victoire.

Of course, it’s not exactly pandering to sell tickets when Quebec regularly produces some of the world’s best players. The Victoire have Marie-Philip Poulin, the captain of the Canadian women’s team at the 2026 Olympics and the 2025 PWHL MVP, and Ann-Renée Desbiens, the goalkeeper for the Canadian team and the 2025 PWHL goalkeeper of the year.

They’re also powered by ROMANCE! Poulin is married to teammate Laura Stacey. They play side-by-side on what’s been termed The Wife Line, alongside elite third wheel Abby Roque. Stacey wears a WIFE LINE bracelet during games. Poulin yelled out WIFE LINE BABYYYYY when calling over Roque for a trophy pic last night.

Stacey is NOT Québécois, as evidenced by her endearing attempts to give interviews in Franglais. (She’s trying!)

The Wife Line is incredibly effective. Roque, Poulin, and Stacey finished first, second, and third in the PWHL playoffs in points, respectively, and they scored nine of Montreal’s 20 playoff goals. According to SlotWork, the top three PWHL playoff lineups in Game Score Value Added were all Wife Line units.

As it turns out, athletes being in love with each other can lead to high drama. In Game 1, Stacey was injured with 20 seconds remaining. Poulin helped her wife off the ice and assisted on the game-tying goal seconds later.

Anyway, there’s been a lot of talk about teammates in relationships lately because the Dallas Wings drafted Azzi Fudd and Paige Bueckers #1 overall in back-to-back years. Fudd and Bueckers have made it clear they don’t want to talk about their relationship, but if you’re new to women’s sports and curious how couples can function as teammates … Poulin and Stacey have talked about it, a lot!

The PWHL is going to be completely different next year, expanding from eight teams to 12, with a presumably massive expansion draft that will shake up every roster in the league. I’m gonna go ahead and pick Whichever Team Ends Up With Maggie Flaherty to win the whole thing. The defender has now won every single championship in league history, going back-to-back with the Frost in 2024 and 2025, and scoring three goals to help the Victoire to the title.

🗽 Knicks–⚔️ Cavaliers (NYK leads 1-0) Hey guys! Did you hear about the time THE NEW YORK KNICKS ERASED A 22-POINT FOURTH QUARTER LEAD TO WIN GAME 1 OF THE EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS?!!?!?!? In great news for me, personally, Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson called James Harden “a good isolation defender” in the aftermath of Cleveland’s Game 1 collapse, despite Knicks coach Mike Brown saying that “it’s no secret we were attacking James Harden,” referring to Jalen Brunson repeatedly scoring on Harden throughout the final minutes of the game. I personally hope that Atkinson holds that opinion for the remainder of the series. (Game 2: Thursday, 8 p.m. ET; Game 3: Saturday, 8 p.m. ET; Game 4: Monday, 8 p.m. ET)

⚡️ Thunder–🤠 Spurs (Series tied 1-1) Basketball nirvana here. I highly recommend you watch Thunder-Spurs. Not a groundbreaking recommendation, tbh. I also recommend you watch, like, Breaking Bad and The Godfather and stuff like that. Game 1 was one of the greatest basketball games I’ve watched, ever. Hopefully, the series doesn’t come down to injuries — with De’Aaron Fox and now Dylan Harper hobbling, Stephon Castle is playing out of position as the Spurs’ lone point guard. He has 20 turnovers in the series, an NBA playoff record for a two-game span, which are unfortunately outweighing the impact of his various Extremely Cool Dunks. (Game 3: Friday, 8:30 p.m. ET; Game 4: Sunday, 8 p.m. ET)

🏔️ Avalanche–🎰 Golden Knights (VGK leads 1-0) – The Knights took a surprising lead in the series because Carter Hart stood on his head with 36 saves and shut down the high-flying Colorado offense. Can he do that for three more games? Vegas also blocked 23 shots, so the Avs need to work on getting better opportunities and also pray Cale Makar gets healthy after missing Game 1 with an upper-body injury. (Game 2: Friday, 8 p.m. ET; Game 3: Sunday, 8 p.m. ET)

⛈️ Hurricanes–🇨🇦 Canadiens – Montreal took down Buffalo in Game 7(!) in Buffalo(!!) in overtime(!!!) on Alex Newhook’s wrist shot, his second Game 7 winner this postseason(!!!!) for the Habs. Meanwhile, Carolina hasn’t played since May 9(!!!!!) and has to be getting a bit restless. The Hurricanes’ 11-day hiatus is the longest since 1919, so it’ll be interesting to see if they’re more rested or rusty in Game 1. (Game 1: Thursday, 8 p.m. ET; Game 2: Saturday, 7 p.m. ET; Game 3: Monday, 8 p.m. ET)