🎤 Exclusive Interview with Lee Dixon

November 2025

Q - While pundits, fans and rivals will all have varying answers on this, in your opinion, what constitutes a successful season for Arsenal this year?

Well, you have to say nothing less than winning it. We probably would have said that before the season, you know, we've got to go the next step to win it after finishing as bridesmaids for so many years, I think, but even more so now based on the start that they've had and the position they find themselves in. 

The top spot is the only way to look at the season and say it is a success, because second place is just the same. So each year you want to be improving. I think that over the last few years, they have improved so far. Even though they finished second, then finished second again, and then finished second again. But the squad now - and everybody recognises outside of the club, including supporters of other teams - looks so strong in every department. 

There are still a few injuries in the team, and we’re waiting for key players like Havertz, Madueke, and Odegaard to return. So, there's a high-quality, deep squad. And I think that's the thing that's maybe turned this campaign into a bit more. They're going to win it because of that strength in depth.

Q - So, do you see any team other than Manchester City making a serious challenge for that coveted league title?

Well, I don't think Liverpool can get really much worse than they've started. I think there's been a lot of pressure on them. There always is when you're champions. But the way they've started, the signings they made in the summer, there was a lot of pressure on them. There were a lot of key signings, which created pressure to join Liverpool and play in a regular side. It is bad enough because it is a significant responsibility for individual players to settle in quickly. However, the fact that they were league champions was surprising in itself. 

We were surprised that they won the league last year, with Slot’s first season. It was like, wow, they've done extraordinarily well. So, looking again at this season and considering whether they could carry on... I think with a settled team, they might have started the season better. Those changes have really wobbled the group. And so they will get better. There's no doubt about that. Defensively, they've been very, very poor. And that's not just the back four. It’s the protection. That's the amount of ball that they have. That's what they do with the ball when they lose possession of it. 

All of those things add up to Liverpool starting really badly. However, I do feel that they will improve. There's no doubt that Arsenal at some point will have a wobble. Every team has one, whether that's a couple of games, one game or... However, the biggest challenge we all see is coming from Man City, not only because it's Pep, but also because let's not forget he hasn't started the mind games yet. When they begin, it will be slightly different. But they've got a machine up front that we thought he couldn't get or score as many goals as he did. Every time we go into a new season, he's knocking the lights out. When you've got somebody like that and they rely on someone like that, he doesn't get many injuries, so you would expect him to be like this most of the season. If he is, they're gonna be right on Arsenal's heels.

Q - Is there one player that you could name who you think would really scupper your title chances if they were to get injured, like Gabriel or even Declan Rice?

Declan Rice // Picture: Alamy

I would have said a couple of seasons ago, you could pick a player like that, and maybe Gabriel will be one of them that you suggest. Still, I think as I said, the squad at the moment is so strong and has two people for every position, that is less so, but I do believe that, and I say this for England as well, you know, going into the World Cup. You look at the cover they've got in all the positions, and the one player they don't really have two players like him is Declan Rice. 

He's that kind of all-round midfielder, box to box. He obviously can play deep. We've seen him do that for Arsenal. Plays a little bit higher when he plays for England because he's got a little bit of cover behind with Anderson, etc - and Zubimendi obviously does that for Arsenal. But he's the heart and soul of Arsenal's midfield and links the back four and makes runs into the box. 

And also, let's not forget, probably the best corner taker in world football. Nobody takes a corner like he does. He sticks it underneath the crossbar every single time. So I think probably I'd stick my neck out and say if they were going to lose one player for a period of time that would affect the team, it would probably be Declan Rice.

Q - They can cope with injuries a lot better now, like for instance, Odegaard has been out for a while and he was a really important player a few seasons ago. Do you think they've missed him the most in terms of the people who are currently out?

The thing is with Odegaard is that he is the kind of linker of those intricate pass moves that they start. They play a little bit differently when he's not playing. But I've always questioned and maybe wrongly, you know, in my head, and my feeling about a player rather… You know, I'm not massive on stats. I never have been. Not to say that they don't tell a story, they obviously do, but I get a feel. I always kind of want a little bit more from him in the bigger games, you know, the big standout matches of a season that I've always felt as if Arsenal has not quite got enough from him. 

So when you say, do they miss him the most? Probably. Because he's a standout and he's very noticeable on the ball because the way he plays, his style, et cetera. But I still think, you know, someone like Havertz back to push Gyokeres, just so he’s not set his place and thinking he’s going to get picked every week. 

I think Gyokeres is really going to come good. I've been pleased with some of the stuff I've seen of him. Yes, we want him to be already on 12 goals or something and that's not the case, but I do see a lot of good stuff from him. I think being pushed again by a really fit Havertz who on his day, you know… I think he gets some bad stick from from other fans, more than Arsenal fans.

Q - Do you think it's a like for like of swapping Gyokeres for Havertz in the lineup or can the two potentially even play together?

Havertz // Picture: Alamy

Well, they're very different, that's for sure. But ultimately, Havertz can play in that kind of number eight role, he can play wide. I think Gyokeres is kind of stuck. We're not going to see him doing a Harry Kane role, we're not going to see him peeling wide like Thierry Henry does in those inside positions. I think Gyokeres is set, but I think you can adapt the team by maybe alternating for a different game, a Havertz who plays in a slightly different way and will stretch teams in different ways. 

And Gyokeres is not as physical as him. So I think it's good to have two slightly different players in that position, but I think they could play together, not as a two up front, maybe not, because that obviously alters the midfield and the wide players. But I certainly think you can play Havertz in a wide left or a left of a three in midfield. So there are options and as a manager that's all you want. 

You want options to be able to look at the opposition and go we’ve got options. With some managers, they play the same way every week because this is us. We play this way, let them adapt to us. Other managers will look at the team and say, why don't we exploit a weakness that the opposition have got if it's there staring at us, why don't we use a more mobile forward for two not so quick centre-halfs or whatever it is. So I think the adaptability of Havertz will come good in the season if we can get him fully fit.

Q - What do you think of the narrative that Arsenal are overly reliant on set piece goals this season? Is that even a problem in your opinion?

No, no problem for me. What I think it says about the team is that - I think people sometimes forget this, you get stuck with stats and say, well, they've scored this many - but in order to in order to create a goal from a set piece, specifically a corner, you have to win a corner or a free kick. which suggests that you're putting teams under enough pressure for them to give the ball away or foul you. You're having shots, you're getting crosses blocked. You're creating a pressure environment where defenses are giving things away. So let's not forget that.

People just go, “they're luckily getting corners and scoring from them”. And if they didn't do that, they wouldn't. If they weren't scoring from those corners, you would go, we need to get goals from elsewhere, but they are scoring and they've almost created a model of excellence when it comes to those types of set pieces. The biggest reason for that is what I mentioned before, is you've got arguably two of the best world corner takers. Saka corners from that right-hand side are just exceptional with his left foot. And as I said, Declan Rice, nobody whips in a ball like he does into an area as consistently as he does. 

Luckily we've got them for England as well! Bizarrely, he wasn't on the corners the other night and maybe it was just to give somebody else another go. But yeah, I'm not over concerned about the fact that we score a lot of goals from set pieces. It just shows determination. It shows desire. It shows an imagination from the coaches. I mean, they're not reinventing the wheel. Some of the positions they take up are quite surprising at times. The one they're all doing at the back post now. So there is an element of brilliance in the coaching side of things. So let's embrace that rather than make it a negative.

Q - So, Arsenal smashed their transfer record again this summer spending over 260 million. Out of all those new additions, who you think is impressed you the most and why?

Arsenal's Viktor Gyökeres in action during a friendly soccer match between Arsenal FC and Tottenham Hotspur // Picture: Alamy

I like Gyokeres. I think he's going to come good. I talk to centre forwards about centre forwards and the ones I talked to have all said that they like what they see. If you want to know about a fullback, maybe ask me and I can give you my opinion on what I think makes a good fullback. And again, if I need to know about a goalkeeper, I'll ask David Seaman.

I've asked a few Arsenal centre forwards in my time about him, what do you like? And they've all given really good reports and I've got a similar feeling about him becoming a really top centre forward. He's a finisher and if he gets chances, he will finish. He's a bustler, he finds space. And again, we've talked about settling into a big team like Liverpool, going to Arsenal is not easy. Everyone thinks, so you should hit the ground running, but why? It's a completely different environment and the expectations from outside on players to the inside is huge. And some people take time to settle to that. But the one player that has come in and for me made a big difference is Zubimendi. 

I really like him as a player on his own. I've liked him, watched him for a while and just love his control he has in that deep role he plays. He releases the full backs because he'll help out the centre backs with possession and it allows them to get forward and go inside. But I think probably most of all it is given Declan Rice that safety to be able to play a bit higher and run box to box and get in the box and create stuff. Zubimendi, I'm a big fan of his, so he's my favourite signing.

Q - I'm really keen to ask you about how good Jurrien Timber has been this season. Do think he's the best right back in the league, Europe, even the world?

Well, you know, that's a big call. But who's better than him? I haven't seen a full back who is. I don't watch world football as in there's too much domestic stuff to watch. My wife wouldn't be too happy if I'm watching a game every night! But what I see with him is, he hasn't got any weaknesses. He's tenacious, he's fast, he's strong, he's aggressive. All the things that I think about when I think about a really good footballer. You need to know the game. You need to be able to read players movement, especially obviously wingers. They're a breed of their own wingers. 

They move differently than most of them. My opinion is anyway, that if you're born to play on the wing, you've got a certain way about how you run and how you try and unbalance players more than anywhere else on the pitch. Because there's a lot of 1v1s going on out there. But you can get isolated at full back by the winger and I've not seen anyone get the better of him. I can't sing his praises enough. I just love the fact that he loves defending. All of them do their part. It makes me think back about the love we had for keeping the ball out of the net. I've not seen that as much since we played. When I watch him play, you can see it. 

You can almost feel how they feel about keeping the ball not only out the net but out the 18-yard box. They're defensively absolutely ridiculously good at the moment and they do get protection and they keep the ball a lot. So the chances that the opposition get are restricted but when they're asked and called upon there's no better right back in the world at the moment than Timber. Also, credit while we're talking about him, Calafiori on the other side has surprised me because I didn't think he was going to be that good. And to keep Myles Lewis-Skelly out of the team like he has is just a brilliant thing because he got a chance and he's made that position his own right now and it's going to be a real battle between the two of them as the season goes on because they're all playing for international places as well. But he has been sensational at left back.

Q - Would you have any advice for Myles Lewis-Skelly, as an England and Arsenal fullback yourself. He's struggling to get minutes at Arsenal and then he's been excluded from the England side. What would your advice to him?

I wasn't too disappointed that he lost his place. I only say that because I'm trying to feel how he's going through this period of time and what he can learn from it. He hit the ground absolutely sprinting and his performances at such a tender age were exceptional. When you're a young kid like that and you're playing, you get your break and you play so well and everything comes so quickly. He scored in his England debut. Everyone was talking about him. There's only really one way to go. You can't keep going like that. You have to plateau at some point and normally youngsters just have a drop off. I'm not saying necessarily he had that drop-off, but think maybe it was just brilliant management. 

I'm not sure if he got a bit of an injury and he lost his place, but the best place for him then, I believe, was to sit on the bench and then watch the team, particularly Calafiori. When you're on the bench, you can learn so much if you watch the game and the player who is playing in your position, good and bad. If you specifically watch the player - and he will get a good view when he's playing on the side of the dugout - Calafiori, he's 10/15 yards away from you and you can watch the game peripherally as it's going on, but you can also just stare at him and watch him. Watch his position, watch when he changes his position, where's the ball, has the ball moved, is he gambling, is he taking a chance? To go tight on his winger in case the ball goes to him. Is that a good thing or is that a bad thing? All of that sort of stuff, your distances. 

When you're playing fullback, it's all about your distance from the man you're marking and where's the ball. Has he got the ball? How far away from you? What you're leaving behind when you close down? All of that stuff. And it's instinctive for him because he's a brilliant young kid. Instinct sometimes lets you down. If you can watch somebody else doing it and go, no, he didn't go until the guy got the ball to feet. And when he got there, he closed him down and he shuffled him a certain way, won the ball. That was good play. So you log that in your head. It's amazing how many times when you see something from the bench or on the training pitch. And it happens in a game and you then just alter your position and you make decisions based on what you're learning on a day to day basis. So my advice to him would be make the most of sitting down because sooner or later you're to be standing up and required to go and perform. You've got to be ready and you've got to have learned something while you're sitting on the bench.

Q - Can you compare the current Arsenal back four with your famous back four? Do you see similarities between particular players from both?

Yeah, I do see similarities. The desire and the willingness to do the hard yards and enjoy, because defending over the years has been kind of looked upon as the dark arts and the kind of ugly side of football and you know, it's hard work. I'm not saying that playing in midfield or up front isn’t hard work, it's different. If you don't enjoy the grinding out, moving around and squeezing the ball in certain areas and not necessarily getting a touch of the ball for quite a long time at times, if a team's got a lot of possession against you, might not actually win the ball back. 

You're shifting your position all the time. You've got to enjoy that. You've got to enjoy the process of being in a team within a team. And that's the back four. We always looked at it as this is our team and when we get it and we give it to you, that is your job now. Wrighty, go and score us a goal. Dennis, go and do some magic. You can't do it on your own. The back fours and goalkeepers get exposed, even the best of us. We conceded goals in certain games because we were out-run in midfield and we got exposed and we weren't good enough to keep the team out. You give the ball away in certain areas of the pitch that really hurt you. It is a team effort. You defend from the front and the back line is kind of like the last resort. But this team, this back four loves that process. And I think that's very similar to how we were. 

David Seaman Arsenal FC Old Trafford Manchester 8 May 2002 // Picture: Allstar Picture Library / Alamy

I would suggest that individually, they're more athletic than we were based on the modern game. The modern games, they're fitter, they play on better pitches, the game's quicker. But other than that, there is a lot of similarities and they've got a great goalkeeper behind them that helps. We had David Seaman and John Lukic and later on, obviously, Lehmann was there. But that does help and that relationship and that trust that you gain between goalkeeper and back line is pivotal in knowing your position and relying, not having to turn around and worry about what's behind you and you can then take a position a little bit higher up the pitch because you trust the goalkeeper so I think they've got that in abundance.

Q - Is there a current Arsenal player that you would have most liked to play with or even would have got into that team?

I think Saka would get in any team, even though we had Marc Overmars, we had Ray Parlour who was exceptional on that right hand side, Robert Pires, we had some great wingers. But Saka's of such quality and his numbers are amazing so he would get in any side. I would love to have played with him because I see the relationship and it's slightly different with Timber now, but the relationship he had with Ben White was brilliant. 

They used to have a little, you know, a little thing, a little inside ball they used to do and it made the full-backs job really easy. I think he's a willing worker to help out defensively when he's needed. But yeah, Saka, I'd like to have played with him and he would definitely get in any team that I played in. You know, I wouldn't leave anybody out to put him in. He would have the quality enough to be able to be picked in that environment, for sure.

Q - What have you kind of made of Ben White’s situation at the club at the minute? Do you think he has a root back after suffering with those injuries?

Well, it's not ideal having injury-prone players. He's just been unlucky with the injuries he's picked up and that's obviously culminated in him losing his position and not being able to challenge Timber at all or replace him that much. You know, not that long ago, he was first on the team sheet every week. He would always be there. Then obviously the injuries have played their part and he's now up against probably one of the best fullbacks in the world. So even if he gets a hundred percent fit, you would think that Timber would still play before him. 

I would play him before him. So he's then got to weigh up how he sees the rest of his contract panning out. Is he happy to sit in a title winning side? They might win the league this year and he'll play his part in X amount of games. But he might look in the summer and go, I need to play. He's not at the stage of his career of someone like a Myles Lewis-Skelly who can have a year sitting on the bench playing the odd game. I Ben White's is slightly different for him. I don't know him, so I don't know what he's thinking. I would imagine, if I was him, I'd be chomping at the bit to either get in the side or I wouldn't be hanging around in the summer if I wasn't going to play.

Q - Do think Kepa made the mistake joining Arsenal? It just doesn't look like he'll play at all. He could have surely went to another Premier League club and probably been a first-team starter?

Arsenal goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, October 29, 2025 // Picture: PA Images / Alamy

Yeah, I couldn't believe he came. Ask him what his reasons were. I don't know. I don't know why you would, at his stage of his career, why you would do that. He's never going to play. He's only going to play if he gets injured. And so why would you want to do that? I guess all players are different and he might have a different mindset. There might be something going on personally that he needs to be settled in the area, I don't know. But from a football point of view, didn't make any sense to me whatsoever in coming.

Q - The North London Derby is coming up… why do you think Arsenal remain ahead of Spurs and do you think the Derby still matters as much as the current generation of players?

Let's answer the last bit first… no. I think all derbies have been slightly diluted because… and this isn't any detriment to any of the foreign players that are playing. I mean I'm sure that Gabriel and Saliba and all those players alike know it’s Tottenham and they understand the difference between a normal game and a derby game against Tottenham. They get the fans, they hear the atmosphere. Even when I went to Arsenal from Manchester, my first North London Derby, I was basically threatened by all of our own players before I went out. 

They were saying “you don't realise what this game means, you're a Northerner. This is North London Derby”. I was educated by Paul Davis and Dave Rocastle telling me what it meant. They scared the life out of me! It still meant a lot to me, but even more so to them. So I think over the years that derby in general has kind of lessened, but also, it does make a difference.

If Tottenham and Arsenal were one and two in the league and it was like that every year, then it would be a little bit heightened again. And I think Tottenham are still playing catch up as far as the team is concerned, the squad and regardless of the result at the weekend, you know, the bragging rights will be with the team that wins it on the day. But ultimately they've got an amazing stadium and you'd say arguably that's a better stadium than Arsenal’s because it's more modern, it's an incredible arena. They've got a manager now that I believe is a really, really good coach and he was perfect to go in there. So they're showing signs.