Stream It Or Skip It: ‘All or Nothing: Arsenal’ on Amazon Prime Video, A Documentary About One Of The Premier League’s Most Popular Clubs

The London-based association football club Arsenal is one of the world’s most prominent and well-known clubs, but they’ve struggled to find championship form in recent years. In the latest incarnation of All or Nothing, Amazon Prime Video’s long-running series of single-team sports documentaries, we get an inside look at The Gunners’ 2021-22 campaign. Will they be able to regain their once-familiar glory, or will they continue to founder at the middle of the league table?

ALL OR NOTHING: ARSENAL: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Sweeping shots of Emirates Stadium, game highlights and roaring crowds are interspersed with narration explaining the position the club finds themself in. It’s a quick, effective bit of exposition; even if you don’t know the club, you’re caught up quickly.

The Gist: There was a time–not that long ago–when Arsenal was synonymous with success. The third-most-decorated club in English football history (behind only Liverpool and Manchester United in terms of trophies won), the London-based Gunners became known as “The Invincibles” during their 2003-04 campaign, when they passed an entire season without losing a Premier League game. Under the leadership of longtime manager Arsène Wenger and behind the record-setting exploits of striker Thierry Henry, Arsenal were consistently among England’s–and Europe’s–best clubs.

Of course, times change. Wenger and Henry are long retired, competitors like Manchester City have been buoyed by foreign investment, and well… sometimes teams just slump. Arsenal enters the 2021-22 Premier League season having not cracked the top four in six years, and with the youngest club in the league, they’re not widely expected to change that. But can they change their direction, and find their way back to the top? That’s where we pick up with this latest edition of All or Nothing.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? By now, All or Nothing is one of Amazon Prime Video’s most established brands; since it was first launched in 2016, the show has aired more than a dozen single-team documentaries, focusing on clubs from the NFL and NHL to association football and American college football. If you’re not familiar, though, think of it as Hard Knocks, or even Drive To Survive, just jumping around between sports.

Our Take: There’s plenty of drama to be found in association football, even if you’re not a die-hard fan. In Sunderland Til’ I Die, we see the slow-moving tragedy of a proud club slipping down the relegation ladder. In Ted Lasso, we saw a clueless American develop a grudging appreciation for the sport. All or Nothing: Arsenal is a bit more straightforward–there’s not the do-or-die stakes of a probable relegation, nor the benefit of a room of comedy writers; there’s just a club whose fans expect to be at the top struggling to find a way back there.

Coming off the COVID-addled 2020-21 season, the club’s relationship with fans is strained. They haven’t made the Champions League in a few years, and coming off an eighth-place finish, they won’t compete in any European competition for the first time in a quarter-century. Mistrust of the American-based Kroenke family’s ownership turns to outright anger when the club agrees to participate in the announced-but-eventually-scuttled formation of a breakaway European Super League, something that fans see as gutting centuries of tradition.

Offseasons are always angsty times, though, and nothing sweeps away the pain like winning. The Gunners have just got to find a way to start winning more. That’s a tall order, given that the club enters the season the youngest team in the EPL, and with the youngest manager–39-year-old former team captain Mikel Arteta, in his first year as the top man. They’ve got some talent, to be sure–young winger Bukayo Saka, veteran Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and recently-added high-priced centre-back Benjamin White, to name a few. They’re the biggest spenders in the league during the latest transfer window, and it’s clear that they’re interested in doing what they need to bring the club back.

But talent’s never been the biggest issue for one of the most well-supported and well-financed clubs in association football; results have been. The new season starts on a rocky note, with three consecutive losses to open their schedule, and the Gunners find themselves at the very bottom of the Premier League table heading into a September contest with fellow cellar-dweller Norwich City. Can they recover?

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: Arsenal finally breaks through in the fourth match of the season, notching a 1-0 win over Norwich City that offers relief to players and fans alike. It’s just one win, but hopefully it can be a turning point. As a fan notes after the match, though, the team’s first real test will come in the upcoming North London Derby against archrivals Tottenham Hotspur. Another fan notes “they’re all must-wins.”

Sleeper Star: He might not qualify as a “sleeper” anymore, but 19-year-old winger Bukayo Saka is certainly the most exciting figure in both Arsenal’s present and their future. We learn both about his immense potential, but also the abuse he suffered after having the decisive penalty kick stopped in the UEFA Euro 2020 final against Italy. His grace and resilience against the opprobrium from some English fans suggests he’s got a great career ahead.

Most Pilot-y Line: “Mate, I’ve got some little kids absolutely giving me stacks,” Ben White says, referencing the reaction to the 23-year-old’s 50-million-pound price tag. “They were mugging me right off, they were like ‘50 million, you’re shit’’.

Our Call: STREAM IT. If you’re a casual fan of English soccer, it’s a great way to immerse yourself in an up-and-coming teams success. If you’re a hardcore fan, it offers you the behind-the-scenes looks you can’t get enough of.

Scott Hines is an architect, blogger and proficient internet user based in Louisville, Kentucky who publishes the widely-beloved Action Cookbook Newsletter.