Arsenal v Coventry City: Premier League – live
Key events
The teams
Arsenal: Raya, White, Mosquera, Gabriel, Calafiori, Rice, Lewis-Skelly, Odegaard, Saka, Tzolis, Havertz.
Coventry City: Rushworth, van Ewijk, Thomas, Amenda, Dasilva, Grimes, Onyeka, Yirenkyi, Tchaouna, Thomas-Asante, Simms.
BREAKING NEWS: Sky Sports are still using that indefensible Kasabian racket for their Premier League theme tune. Bah. Had been very much hoping they’d replace it for the new campaign. Me, I’d pop the master tapes in the nearest brazier, and instead whack on Magic Trumpet by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, last used in this specific context by Granada Television for their gloriously Soviet-branded late-60s programme FOOTBALL. Tell me this wouldn’t improve your mood at least tenfold every time you heard it.
… and now some Cov-infused build-up. That opening-weekend fever beginning to kick in now, right?
Some even-hotter-off-the-press preview action here. Firstly of an Arsenal bent …
… so let’s start at the very beginning. One step before the beginning, in fact. The Guardian presents, for your edification, the Premier League 2026-27 previews for Arsenal and Coventry City. Just in case you missed them.
Preamble
The Premier League is back, and you won’t get too many people making a case for newly promoted Coventry City to get something in tonight’s opening game against champions Arsenal. But then on the first day of the 1993-94 season, Micky Quinn did this …
… and there weren’t too many at Highbury expecting that either. Throw in that Lee Dixon own goal, the centrepiece of another early-season away win for Cov, this time in 1991-92 with Arsenal reigning champions, and the Sky Blues have some disruptive form here. On the other hand, that was over 30 years ago, and Arsenal have won all five of the meetings between these clubs in the 21st century, albeit the last of those being in 2014. So take your pick as the champions of England meet the winners of the Championship. Kick-off is at 8pm BST. It’s back, and it’s on!
