title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: In 1997, due to allegation related to Fodder Scam, a leadership revolt surfaced in Janata Dal, consequently Lalu broke away from Janata Dal and formed a new political party Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). In 1998 general for 12th Lok Sabha Lalu won from Madhepura, but lost in 1999 general election to Sharad Yadav. In 2000 Bihar Legislative Assembly election he won and remained in opposition.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: In 2002, Lalu was elected in Rajya Sabha where he stayed until 2004. In 2002, RJD formed the government with Rabri Devi as the CM. Except for brief President rule and 7 days term of Nitish Kumar, RJD remained in power in Bihar until 2005.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: In May 2004, Lalu Yadav contested general election from Chhapra and Madhepura against Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Sharad Yadav respectively and won from both the seats with a huge margin with the great support and faith of people of Bihar. In total, RJD won 21 seats and it allied with Indian National Congress becoming second-largest member of UPA I after Congress. Lalu Yadav became the Railway Minister in the 2004 UPA Government. Later, he gave up the Madhepura seat.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: As railway minister, Lalu Yadav left passenger fares untouched and focused on other sources of revenue for the railways. He banned plastic cups from being used to serve tea at railway stations and replaced those with "kulhar"s (earthen cups), in order to generate more employment in rural areas. Later, he also said that he had plans to introduce buttermilk and khādī. In June 2004, he announced that he would get on the railway himself to inspect its problems and went on to board the train from Patna Railway station at midnight.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: When he took over, the Indian Railways was a loss-making organisation. In the years under his leadership, it showed a cumulative total profit of . Business schools around the world became interested in Lalu Yadav's leadership in managing the turnaround. The turnaround was introduced as a case study by the Indian Institute of Management. Yadav also received invitations from eight Ivy League schools for lectures, and addressed over a hundred students from Harvard, Wharton and others in Hindi. In 2006, the Harvard Business School and HEC Management School, France, have shown interest in turning Lalu Yadav's experiment with the Indian Railway into case studies for aspiring business graduates.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: In 2009, Yadav's successor Mamata Banerjee and the opposition parties alleged that the so-called turnaround of the Railways during his tenure was merely a result of presenting financial statements differently. A 2011 report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) endorsed this view. CAG found that the "surplus" shown on the financial statements during Yadav's tenure covered "cash and investible surplus", which were not included in the "net surplus" figures released by the Railways in the earlier years. The "cash surplus" included the money available for paying dividend, contribution to the Depreciation Reserve Fund used for renewal or replacement of existing assets, and other funds for investment. The "investible surplus" included the money allocated for capital expenditure. The report concluded that the performance of the Railways actually declined marginally during the last few years of Lalu's tenure.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: Bihar Assembly elections were held twice in the year 2005. There was a fractured verdict in February 2005 Assembly Election. Since no government could be formed in Bihar, fresh elections were held in October–November the same year. In November 2005 state elections RJD won 54 seats, less than both Janata Dal United (JDU) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Nitish Kumar led coalition, consisting of JD(U) and BJP, came to power. In the 2010 elections, the RJD tally was reduced to just 22 seats whereas the ruling alliance claimed a record 206 out of the 243 Assembly seats. In 2009 general election RJD won 4 seats and provided outside support to Manmohan Singh government.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: In May 2012, Lalu Prasad Yadav envisaged Hamid Ansari, previous vice-president, as a presidential candidate. In May 2013, Lalu Yadav tried to rejuvenate the party and fuel the party workers in his Parivartan Rally. After the conviction in Fodder Scam on 3 October 2013, Yadav was disqualified from the membership of Lok Sabha. In 2014 general election, Lalu Yadav's RJD again won 4 seats.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: In the 2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Lalu Yadav's RJD became the largest party with a total of 81 seats. He along with his partner Nitish Kumar of JD(U) had the absolute majority to form a government in Bihar. This was cited as a major comeback for the RJD and for Lalu Yadav on the political stage of Bihar after a gap of 10 years. But that suffocating alliance did not last long as Nitish Kumar dumped and ousted Lalu's party from the power and alliance in July 2017 after the Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation lodged several criminal cases against Lalu's son and Deputy Chief Minister, Tejashwi Yadav.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: According to Seyed Hossein Zarhani, although Laloo Prasad became a hate figure among Forward Castes, he drew huge support from backward castes and Dalits. He was criticised for neglecting development, but a study conducted during his reign, among downtrodden Musahars revealed that despite the construction of houses for them not being concluded at required pace, they are obliged to choose him as their leader as he returned them their ""ijjat""(honour)


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: and for the first time they are allowed to vote as per their own wishes. A number of populist policies which directly impacted his "Backward Caste" supporters were launched during his tenure. Some of these being; establishment of ""Charvaha schools"", where children of poor could get skilled; abolishment of cess on toddy and more importantly the negligence of rules related to reservation for "Backward Castes" were made cognizable offence. Yadav mobilised 'Backwards' through his identity politics. According to his conception, Forward Castes were elite in the outlook and thus he portrayed himself as, ""Messiah of Backwards"" by ensuring that his way of living remain identical to his supporters who were mostly poor. He even continued to reside in his quarter of one room after getting elected as Chief Minister, though later he moved to official residence of the CM for administrative convenience.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: Another significant event during his regime was the recruitment of 'Backward Castes' and communities to government services in large numbers. The government's white paper claimed to have significant number of vacancies in health sector and similar manpower crunch existed across various sectors. The rules of recruitment were changed drastically in order to benefit "Backward Castes", who supported him. The frequent transfer of existing officers, who were at the higher echelon of bureaucracy was also an important feature of Yadav and Rabri Devi's regime. These developments led to collapse of administration and entire system. Yadav however continued to rule Bihar due to massive support from "Backward Castes" as well as his emphasis on "honour" which he considered more important than the development. Thus according to Zarhani, for the lower caste he was a charismatic leader who was capable to become the voice of those who were silent for long.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: Another form of mobilisation of his Dalit supporters by Laloo Yadav was popularising all those folk heroes of lower castes, who were said to have vanquished the upper caste adversaries. One such example is of a popular Dalit saint who was revered as he not only ran away with an upper caste girl but also suppressed all her kins. Praising him could enrage Bhumihar caste in some parts of Bihar. There is a grand celebration every year at a particular place near Patna and Yadav participates in this fair with pomp and show. His energetic participation in this show makes it a rallying point for Dalits, who saw it as their victory and the harassment of upper castes.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: According to Kalyani Shankar, Yadav created a feeling amongst the oppressed that they are real rulers of state under him. He continuously lambasted the oppressors on the behalf of the oppressed and led to their emergence as the pivot of political power. The upper caste, who composed just 13.2% of the population, were controlling most of the land while the 'Backwards', who were 51%, own very little land. The advent of Lalu led to a drastic change in the economic profile of the state, followed by the diversification of the occupation of the 'Backwards' and increase in land owned by them.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: Yadav also instilled a sense of confidence among Muslims by stopping Lal Krishna Advani's controversial "Rath yatra". Muslims of Bihar were feeling a sense of insecurity after the ghastly 1989 Bhagalpur riots. The Satyendra Narayan Singh government failed to control law and order situation thus death toll reached over 1000. The people affected were mostly poor weavers and others belonging to low strata of society and hence they were looking for a leader who could control the deteriorating situation of state under Congress. According to Kalyani, during this period upper castes were totally marginalised and 'Backwards' came to control the power firmly.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: During his tenure, Yadav never tried to emulate the erstwhile elite chief ministers. He took part in the public festivals and popularised his famous "Kurta far Holi" (cloth tearing holi). On this occasion his invitees and the media persons would reach his house shouting: "Kaha Chhupal hai Lalu Sala" (Where is the bloody Lalu hiding ?). Yadav also responded in a similar abusive tone. The vulgar songs were also played on the occasion. Besides this, he never hesitated in calling himself as a son of poor "Goala" (herder). During his public celebration of Holi festival, he used to play the "Dhol" himself and dance on the beat of "Jogira" song. Yadav's rallies were called railla, a symbol of masculinity. Those participating in these rallies were supposed to carry a lathi, a robust stick, which was both the symbol of "masculinity" as well as the chief weapon of a "herder", who used it to manage his cows. The drinking of "Bhang", a natural liquor and sitting the whole night to watch the "Launda" dance (Dance of a Eunuch acting as a woman) made him popular among rural Biharis but all of these obscene activities of a Chief Minister irritated the middle class sensibilities.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: With the coming in power of Yadav, the representation of OBC saw a spurt in the legislative assembly of state. The upper-caste were at great disadvantage due to the new caste composition of the state legislature. In his second tenure, when the elections of 1995 took place in the state, the OBC legislators became 49.69 per cent in the assembly and the upper caste legislators fell to 17.28 per cent, a massive decline since 1960s. The domination of the Backwards in the legislature brought it into conflict with the bureaucracy, which was still dominated by the upper-castes. There witnessed a hike in incidents of corruption, because the upper-caste bureaucrats utilised the 'lack of knowledge' in administration of the new legislators (from the OBC background) to stealthily sabotage and subvert constructive policies of the Yadav's government.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: Since, the administrative class belonged to landed class of upper caste; the Thakur, Bhumihar, Kayastha and Brahmin, they aimed at this obstruction, in order to secure not only their personal interest, but also the interest of the social class, they belonged to. The advent of Yadav to power was considered as end of their dominance. Hence, amidst confrontation between the bureaucracy and the legislature, the upper-caste dominated bureaucracy became determined to obstruct the caste based social justice promoted by the Janata Dal government under Yadav. They often resorted to frequent defiance of orders to maintain the status-quo. Hence, the government undermined the bureaucracy, as the government, which is said to have voted to power on the platform of OBC empowerment, was also determined to bring the social justice, even at the cost of administrative disfunction.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: At the time, the caste composition of judiciary also mirrored the bureaucracy and latter too come into conflict with the government. In the meantime, in the year 1996, a major scandal was witnessed in the state, which involved embezzlement of billions of rupees from the Animal Husbandry Department of state. Initially, the case was to be investigated by Bihar police, which means, government to be in the control of the investigation, but later the judiciary came into play, and the reservation of the case by Supreme Court for Central Bureau of Investigation, saw Patna High Court assuming charge over the case. The Fodder Scam, as it was called was a new series of conflict between the government on one hand and the CBI and Judiciary at the other hand.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: Between 1990 and 2005, the government under Yadav's Janata Dal undertook several measures to strengthen the control of OBCs, Scheduled Caste and Muslims over bureaucracy. Latter were given the powerful position like those of District Magistrate. Transfers of the upper echelon of bureaucracy was also frequently resorted to. In the year 1993, the post of Director General of Police as well as Chief Secretary were both given to officers belonging to lower castes and the incumbent officers, who were both Brahmins were removed. Since the strategy of transfer of unwanted bureaucrats has a limit, Yadav's government was adamant in use of quota to fill these posts with the officials from the subaltern background. If unable to appoint the lower castes, the government chose to keep many posts vacant, to prevent the upper castes from occupying them.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: In order to weaken the upper-caste bureaucracy, the scope for intervention in its functioning by the party officials, belonging to Janata Dal was kept open.Hence, increased interference by party activists in the functioning of bureaucracy and police was witnessed. Meanwhile, the resurgence of the OBCs and SCs also resulted in extension of patronage to many of the "Bahubalis" ( a term representing someone with money and muscle power with criminal background) from these social groups. Yadav is said to have patronised; Pappu Yadav, operating out of Purnea and Madhepura districts; Vinod Yadav, operating out of Bhagalpur district; Surendra Yadav, operating out of Gaya district; Mohammad Shahabuddin, operating out of Siwan district; Makhi Paswan, operating out of Khagaria district; and Mohammed Suleiman, operating out of Kishanganj district.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: A popular opinion outside Bihar with respect to weakening of bureaucracy and "breakdown of governance" was the presence of rampant corruption and leadership's ineptitude in Yadav's regime. But, according to Jeffrey Witsoe, the RJD has deliberately weakened the state institutions controlled by upper-castes in order to empower the lower castes. The OBCs were in control of government but the media and the bureaucracy along with the judiciary was still in control of upper-castes, it was this upper-caste dominance of the other state institutions that the OBC leadership was vying to end by trying to displace the upper-castes effectively from power.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: In the meantime, accusations were laid against Yadav's government for fomenting caste based antagonism between various social groups. Various commentators have stressed that under Yadav's Janata Dal rule, the agricultural labourers and untouchables became vocal for respect from the dominant class and the fair wages. Retaliation on the part of lower castes were also seen, when the dominant caste militias tried to quell their revolt on these grounds. In one such case, in December 1991 a dominant caste militia called "Savarna Liberation Front" gangraped and murdered ten Dalit women, in retaliation, the left wing militants all belonging either Dalit or Backward Castes killed thirty five people from the dominant caste. William Dalrymple has chronicled the account of a dominant caste landowner who survived the massacre. The interlocutor of Dalrymple, who declared the incident to be a handiwork of Bihar government under Yadav said:


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: Another account from the "Sargana Gram Panchayat" area testifies the change in established socio-political order brought by the government under Yadav. A large Rajput farmer from the Panchayat constituency, who had been a predecessor of the incumbent "Mukhiya" of the village said:


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: As per one opinion, Yadav extended tacit support to the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCC), and in the period of caste wars, he, as a Chief Minister frequently visited the places, where the victims were from Backward Castes. It is opined that many people from these castes voted him, only because he represented their aspiration of speaking back and becoming virile. The poor of the state couldn't gain much in terms of jobs and services of state, but they were no longer left to be treated with disdain. Nandini Gooptu has mentioned some studies from the rural Bihar, belonging to the time period following the coming into power of Yadav, where the Schedule Castes like Musahars became vocal for their rights including wages, for the work they do under 'employment guarantee schemes' of government. In one such study, a Musahar woman was recorded abusing the government officials belonging to Rajput caste for cheating [them] on wages due to them. Similarly, in another case, a Schedule Tribe Santhal was recorded taunting son of a Kayastha landlord. Many changes were observed at the lowest level of governance too; in one such case, a Rajput landlord family was replaced by a Kevat caste man for the post of Mukhiya in a village. These changes in the rural Bihar was found to be remarkable, considering the brutally enforced inequalities persisting therein for years.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: In the early years of his rise in political circle, Yadav was also successful in creating defection in the left-wing political parties of the state, which had long history of association with Naxalism. In the areas around Nalanda and Aurangabad, the weakening of the CPI-ML liberation is attributed to the significant rise of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) led by Yadav. The RJD successfully attracted the Koeri and Yadav leadership of the party, thus strengthening itself at the cost of liberation.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: The society of Bihar was divided into OBCs, SCs and Forward Castes (upper caste); the forward castes had dominated the democratic institutions of the state in the rule of Congress and only a section of OBCs were politically conscious to think of replacing them from political power, this section, which included only three caste (Koeri, Kurmi and Yadav) also owned land in other parts of Bihar, but was poor in the areas dominated of the forward castes. They took land on tenancy from the forward castes, as they were marginal farmers in these areas. A fair number of the OBCs were also employed in the state institutions and were among educated servicemen in the urban areas. They remained victims of the high handedness of the upper-caste colleagues and the rivalry between them was evolving over time.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: In rural areas, the OBCs were also confronting the MBC or Extremely Backward Class (also called Most Backward Castes, the category which includes more than hundred Backward Castes, other than trio of Koeri, Kurmi and Yadav) and the Scheduled Castes, but the upper-castes treated all sections of Backward Castes in the same manner, causing much resentment among the elite section of the Backwards. In the rural areas, the upper-castes countered the Most Backward Classes and Schedule Castes, when they wanted to eschew the village based livelihood options. They [upper-castes] reacted violently, when the MBC or the SCs tried to detach from any social institutions, that were symbol of low caste status. Since for different reasons, the OBCs, MBCs and the SCs were all pitted against the common rivals, the upper-castes, and the bitterness between the OBCs and the forward castes had strengthened after the anti-reservation protest launched by the upper-castes, unification of these social groups took place against the forward castes.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: The rise of Lalu Prasad Yadav provided an opportunity to unite all these social groups and the Naxalite groups, which had many OBCs in the leadership positions, also supported the political party led by Yadav. Maoist Communist Centre of India, one of the most significant Naxalite group also sided with the interest of OBCs, and the MCC activists started providing armed backing to the Most Backward Classes and the Schedule Castes to exercise their franchise in order to led the candidates of Yadav's party towards victory. Hence, for a while, the boundary between political and Naxalite movement got blurred.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: According to Professor Shashi Bhushan Singh, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, since the numerical strength of upper-caste (approximately 20% of state's population) was not enough to have large number of MLAs in the state legislature in order to control the Backward Castes, they resorted to undemocratic practices in order to retain the power in their hand, leading to rise of militancy among a section of Backwards.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: According to Singh, when Lalu Prasad Yadav asked for support from the members of Backward Castes, he was actually asking it in order to change the entire social order, in which upper caste were at advantage. The reservation policy introduced by the implementation of Mandal Commission recommendations though didn't benefitted the Scheduled Castes, yet they supported Yadav against the forward castes.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: Lalu Prasad Yadav has been convicted and jailed in two scams. As of January 2018, he, his wife Rabri Devi, his sons Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav, and his eldest daughter Misa Bharti were all facing charges in several other corruption cases.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: Yadav was an accused party and later convicted in the first Fodder Scam case of 1996. The case involved the siphoning off of about ₹4.50 billion ($111.85 million) from the animal husbandry department.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: Several allegations of embezzlement from the animal husbandry department were tabled between 1990 and 1995. In January 1996, a raid conducted on Chaibasa treasury indicated the siphoning off of funds by non-existent companies. Yadav ordered an inquiry to probe the irregularities. However, after a public interest litigation, the Bihar High Court in March 1996 ordered the case to be handed over to the CBI. In June 1997, the CBI filed the charge sheet in the case and made Yadav an accused. The charge forced Yadav to resign from the office of Chief Minister, at which time he appointed his wife, Rabri Devi, to the office.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: In 2001, the Supreme Court of India transferred the scam cases to newly formed court in Ranchi, Jharkhand. The trial began in 2002. In August 2013, Yadav tried to get the trial court judge transferred, but his plea was rejected by Supreme Court of India. Yadav has been an accused in many of the 53-odd cases filed. He has been remanded to custody on multiple occasions because of the number of cases. Over 64 people were convicted in the case. Yadav was first sent to "Judicial remand" (Bihar Military Police guest house, Patna) on 30 July 1997, for 134 days. On 28 October 1998, he was again sent to the same guest house for 73 days. When the Supreme Court took exception to his guest house stay, he had also moved to the Beur jail in Patna. On 26 November 2001, Yadav was again remanded, in a case related to the fodder scam. Yadav accused the NDA of creating a conspiracy against him. On 1 October 2004, the Supreme Court served a notice to Yadav and his wife in response to a petition which alleged that they have been interfering with the investigation.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: Yadav, along with 44 other accused, was convicted on 30 September 2013 after being found guilty in fraudulent withdrawal of ₹37 crores (₹370 million) from Chaibasa treasury. Several other politicians, IAS officers were also convicted in the case. Immediately after the verdict was pronounced, Yadav was arrested and taken to Birsa Munda Central Jail, located at Ranchi. Yadav was disqualified as MP for six years. He was given a jail sentence of five years and a fine of ₹25 lakh (₹2.5 million).


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: He was released on bail from Birsa Munda Central Jail, after he completed the bail formalities in a Special CBI court, months after his conviction.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: In 1998, a disproportionate assets (DA) case arising out of the fodder scam was registered against Yadav and Rabri Devi. In April 2000, both were made co-accused in the charge-sheet and surrendered. While Rabri Devi got bail due to being Chief Minister of Bihar, Yadav was remanded in Beur jail for 11 days. They were acquitted in 2006. The Bihar government wanted to appeal against the acquittal but the Supreme Court in 2010 ruled that the state government can not challenge such rulings.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: Yadav was convicted and jailed in the second Fodder Scam case of ₹8.927 million on the same day 23 December 2017 when his daughter Misa Bharti was also charged by the Enforcement Directorate of having disproportionate assets. Yadav was convicted 23 December 2017 and sentenced on 6 January 2018 to 3 years' imprisonment and ₹1,000,000 fine) for the fraudulent withdrawal of ₹8,900,000 from the Deoghar district treasury between 1990 and 1994.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: This case, pertaining to scamming ₹356.2 million scammed from the Chaibasa tresury of West Singhbhum district,


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: Yadav was convicted by the special CBI court in the fourth fodder scam case relating to alleged withdrawal of ₹3.13 crore from the Dumka district treasury over two decades ago. CBI Judge awarded him two separate sentences of seven years each under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Acts.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: Yadav has been found guilty of illegal withdrawals of ₹139.35 crore from the Doranda treasury by a special CBI court in Jharkhand's Ranchi on 15 February 2022. In February 2022 A CBI court sentenced to five years jail term in fifth case and imposed a fine of ₹60 lakh.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: 2005 Indian Railway tender scam, investigated by the CBI, is the bribery and corruption case where Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family are charged for illegally receiving prime property from the bidder as a bribe for corruptly awarding the Railway tender during Yadav's tenure as Railway Minister. Transfer of these properties as bribe to Yadav and his children were disguised using the shell companies; for example, wife Rabri Devi and three children, Misa Bharti, Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav, received Saguna Mor Mall property worth ₹45 crore through a shell company named Delight Marketing (renamed as Lara properties), and another shell company AB Exports was used to transfer properties worth ₹40 crore for a price of ₹4 lakh to Lalu's other three children Tejashwi Yadav, Ragini and Chanda. This case spawned several other related but independent cases, such as disproportionate assets case as well as tax avoidance case by ED. Under the Benami Transactions Prohibition Act recipient of such benami properties can be imprisoned for up to 7 years and fined up to 25% fair market value, and convicted politicians are barred from contesting elections or holding elected position for six years.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: Investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), against Yadav, his wife, son Tejashwi, daughter Misa and others, arose from the alleged illegal proceeds of the 2005 Indian Railway tender scam. The I-T department issued summons for 12 June 2017 to Misa Bharti, over Benami land deals worth ₹10 billion (₹1,000 crores). Misa was officially charged by ED in disproportionate assets case on the same day her father was convicted again in the second fodder scam. After the CBI lodged an FIR on 5 July 2017, ED filed the Case Information Report (ECIR) on 27 July 2017 against Lalu, his wife Rabri, their younger son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and others in the railways tender corruption and ill-gotten property scam that happened during Lalu's tenure as the Railway Minister. Taking action against this scam, ED of Income Tax Department on 12 September 2017 attached more than 12 properties in Patna and Delhi including the plot for the mall in Patna, a farm house in Delhi and up-market land in Palam Vihar in Delhi. This includes the transfer of ₹450 million (₹45 crore) Seguna mor benami property transferred to Lalu's wife Rabri Devi and children Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav by using a shell company named Delight Properties, which was later renamed as Lara Properties. (Updated: 7 Jan 2018)


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: AB Exports was a shell company used to transfer, as a bribe for the railway tender scam, ₹400 million (₹40 crore) benami property for a mere price of ₹400,000 to Lalu's 3 children Tejashwi Yadav, Ragini Yadav and Chanda Singh. ED has attached this property and booked the 3 accused children of Lalu. (Updated: 7 Jan 2018)


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: 2017 Patna zoo soil scam is an allegation/case against Lalu Prasad Yadav and his sons Tej Pratap Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav for the "gross irregularities" of selling soil from the construction of Tej Pratap's Saguna Mor mall basement. The bogus beautification scheme was for ₹90 lakh to Patna zoo without inviting any tenders when Tej Pratap was the minister of environment and forest in Bihar, a department that controls the zoo. The scam came to the light in April 2017, a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in Patna High Court in October 2017, court ordered the Bihar government to furnish the details of investigation, following which the case was handed over to Bihar Vigilance Investigation Bureau (VIB) department for the investigation under the Pollution Control Board Act, the Environment Protection Act and Wildlife Protection Act (1972) (update: 6 Jan 2018).


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: The Bihar government said that official procedure was duly followed in the case and prima facie no evidence of irregularity has come into light in zoo soil deal. (Updated: 31 May 2020)


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: Yadav was convicted in the controversial Fodder Scam, and was serving a term until 17 April 2021, when he was granted bail from the Jharkhand High Court in the corruption scandal.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: Yadav is one of the first noted politicians to lose parliamentary seat on being arrested in fodder scam as per Supreme Court decision banning convicted legislators to hold their posts. During his tenure as Chief Minister, Bihar's law and order was at lowest, kidnapping was on rise and private armies mushroomed. He was also criticized by opposition in the Shilpi-Gautam Murder case and the death of his daughter Ragini Yadav's friend, Abhishek Mishra, in mysterious circumstances.


title: Lalu Prasad Yadav

text: Lalu Yadav's rule witnessed Yadav caste becoming assertive in the rural and urban landscape of Bihar, leading his opponents to coin the slogan of "Yadavisation" of Bihar's polity and administration. This fact was used by other political parties to dislodge his government on the charges of working for the benefit of a single caste group at the cost of various other backward communities. According to a report of Indian Human Development Survey (2011–12), Brahmins topped in average per capita income with ₹28,093, the other upper castes of Bihar which comprises Rajputs have an average per capita income of ₹20,655, closely followed by middle agrarian castes like Kushwahas and Kurmis earning ₹18,811 and ₹17,835 respectively as their average per capita income. In contrast, Yadavs’ income is one of the lowest among OBCs at ₹12,314, which is slightly less than the rest of OBCs (₹12,617). Hence; despite the political mobilisation of backward castes in post mandal period, the upper-caste are still the highest income groups in Bihar. According to this report, the economic benefits of the Mandal politics could be seen as affecting only few backward castes of agrarian background leading to their upward mobilisation. The Yadavs hence transformed their assertiveness to the upward mobility in the politics only while the other "Backward Castes" gained momentum in the other fields, though still the upper-caste dominance was retained in upper echelon of bureaucracy.


title: Ron Reagan

text: Ronald Prescott Reagan (born May 20, 1958) is an American liberal political commentator, writer, radio personality, television host, and dancer. He is a former radio host and political analyst for KIRO and Air America Radio, where he hosted his own daily three-hour show. He has also been a contributor to MSNBC. His liberal views contrast with those of his father and conservative icon, President Ronald Reagan.


title: Ron Reagan

text: Reagan was born in May 20, 1958 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, He is youngest son of Ronald Reagan and his second wife, Nancy Davis Reagan. The family lived in Sacramento while his father was governor, from 1967 His sister, Patti Davis, is five and a half years older. His older brother Michael Reagan, adopted as an infant by Ronald Reagan and his first wife, Jane Wyman, is 13 years older. He also had two half-sisters born to Reagan and Wyman, Maureen Reagan (1941–2001) and Christine Reagan, who was born prematurely, on June 26, 1947, and died the same day. At an early age, his father, Ronald Reagan, often joked that they were related to every royal family with the name O'Regan in Europe. "Burke's Peerage" provided the Reagans with their family tree, which lacked any direct connection to European royalty.


title: Ron Reagan

text: Ron Reagan undertook a different philosophical and political path from his father at an early age. At 12, he told his parents that he would not be going to church anymore because he was an atheist.


title: Ron Reagan

text: They [the school administration] thought I was a bad influence on the other kids. As I recall, the immediate reason was I went to a dance at a neighboring girl's school in a classmate's car. This was an infraction. They had been looking for an excuse. I didn't get caught at anything.


title: Ron Reagan

text: Reagan dropped out of Yale University in 1976 after one semester to become a ballet dancer. He joined the Joffrey Ballet in pursuit of his lifelong dream and participated in the Joffrey II Dancers, a troupe for beginning dancers, where he was mentored by Sally Brayley. "Time" wrote in 1980: "It is widely known that Ron's parents have not managed to see a single ballet performance of their son, who is clearly very good, having been selected to the Joffrey second company, and is their son nonetheless. Ron talks of his parents with much affection. But these absences are strange and go back a ways." The parent Reagans went to see Ron perform at the Lisner Auditorium on Monday, May 18, 1981. The elder Reagan commented in his White House diary on this day that Ron's performance was "darn good" and reminiscent of Fred Astaire.


title: Ron Reagan

text: Reagan, who was 22 and married by the time his father took office, never lived in the White House. He dropped his Secret Service protection eighteen months into his father's presidency.


title: Ron Reagan

text: Reagan became more politically active after his father left the White House in 1989. In contrast to his father, the younger Reagan's views were unabashedly liberal. In a 2009 "Vanity Fair" interview, Ron said that he did not speak out politically during his father's term because the press "never cared about my opinions "as such," only as they related to "him"", adding that he did not want to create the impression that he and his father were on bad terms because of political differences. In 1991, Reagan hosted "The Ron Reagan Show", a syndicated late-night talk show addressing political issues of the day, which was canceled after a brief run since it was unable to compete with the higher ratings of "The Arsenio Hall Show", "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson", and "Nightline".


title: Ron Reagan

text: Reagan has worked in recent years as a magazine journalist, and has hosted talk shows on cable TV networks such as the Animal Planet network. In Britain, he is best known for having co-presented "Record Breakers" (based on "The Guinness Book of Records") for the BBC. Reagan presented a report from the United States each week.


title: Ron Reagan

text: He has served on the board of the Creative Coalition, an organization founded in 1989 by a group that included Susan Sarandon and Christopher Reeve, to politically mobilize entertainers and artists, generally for First Amendment rights, and causes such as arts advocacy and public education. From February to December 2005, Reagan co-hosted the talk show "Connected: Coast to Coast with Monica Crowley" on MSNBC.


title: Ron Reagan

text: Until its demise in 2010, Air America Media aired "The Ron Reagan Show." The program made its debut on September 8, 2008.


title: Ron Reagan

text: In 2011, he published "My Father at 100: A Memoir". In interviews promoting the book, Reagan described noticing his father was having certain mental lapses which, in hindsight, caused the younger Reagan to speculate subsequently that his father may have already been in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease while still in office. This assertion was attacked by critics, including his brother, Michael Reagan. Ron Reagan subsequently clarified that he did not feel the lapses were evidence of "dementia."


title: Ron Reagan

text: Reagan is not a member of a political party, but votes Democratic. In July 2004, Reagan spoke at the Democratic National Convention about his support for lifting Bush's restrictions on federally funded embryonic stem cell research, from which he expected a cure or new treatments for Alzheimer's disease, of which his father had recently died. "There are those who would stand in the way of this remarkable future, who would deny the federal funding so crucial to basic research. A few of these folks, needless to say, are just grinding a political axe and they should be ashamed of themselves," Ron Reagan said of the restrictions. "We can choose between the future and the past, between reason and ignorance, between true compassion and mere ideology." Reagan's mother Nancy also supported this position.


title: Ron Reagan

text: In September 2004, he told the "Sunday Herald" newspaper that the George W. Bush Administration had "cheated to get into the White House. It's not something Americans ever want to think about their government. My sense of these people is that they don't have any respect for the public at large. They have a revolutionary mindset. I think they feel that anything they can do to prevail — lie, cheat, whatever — is justified by their revolutionary aims" and that he feared Bush was "hijacking" his father's reputation.


title: Ron Reagan

text: Reagan later wrote the essay "The Case Against George W. Bush by Ron Reagan" for "Esquire". He voted for Democratic candidate John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election. Reagan endorsed Senator Barack Obama of Illinois for president in the 2008 presidential election. In November 2015, Reagan endorsed Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for the Democratic Party nomination in the 2016 Democratic Party primaries.


title: Ron Reagan

text: In early 2020, Reagan stated that his father would have opposed Donald Trump, remarking to "The Daily Beast" that his "father would have been ashamed of this Republican Party" as well as "been embarrassed and ashamed that a president of the United States was as incompetent and traitorous as the man occupying the White House now."


title: Ron Reagan

text: Reagan lives in Seattle. He married Doria Palmieri, a clinical psychologist, in 1980. She died in 2014 from neuromuscular disease. They had no children. He married Federica Basagni in July 2018.


title: Ron Reagan

text: Reagan stated in a 2004 "New York Times" interview that he did not claim any religion, but that his sympathies were with Buddhism and his wife was a Buddhist. In a June 23, 2004, interview on CNN show "Larry King Live", while discussing reasons why he would not run for political office, Ron Reagan stated "I'm an atheist [...] I can't be elected to anything because polls all say that people won't elect an atheist."


title: Ron Reagan

text: In February 2010, he was named to the Freedom From Religion Foundation's Honorary Board of distinguished achievers. In May 2014, Reagan appeared in an advertisement for broadcast on Comedy Central for the Freedom From Religion Foundation in which he declared himself "an unabashed atheist" who is "not afraid of burning in Hell." The ad received renewed attention in October 2019 when it aired on CNN during the fourth 2020 Democratic Presidential Debate. The ad was also run during the CNN Democratic debates in January and March 2020.


title: Youn Yuh-jung

text: Youn Yuh-jung (, ; born June 19, 1947) is a South Korean actress, whose career in film and television spans over five decades. Her accolades include an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a British Academy Film Award, an Independent Spirit Award, and a nomination for a Critics' Choice Movie Award. She has starred in many South Korean television series and films.


title: Youn Yuh-jung

text: She gained international recognition for her role in "Minari" (2020). Her critically acclaimed portrayal of Soon-ja in the film made her the first Korean actress to win a Screen Actors Guild Award, an Independent Spirit Award, a British Academy Film Award, and an Academy Award, as well as the first to be nominated for a Critics' Choice Movie Award, all in the Best Supporting Actress category.


title: Youn Yuh-jung

text: By the late 1960s, Youn was a rising star in South Korea and won several awards for her role in "Woman of Fire" (1971). She retired from the spotlight for several years before returning to acting in the late 1980s. Besides "Woman of Fire" and "Minari", Youn is known for her work in the South Korean films "The Housemaid" (2010), "The Taste of Money" (2012), "The Bacchus Lady" (2016), and "Canola" (2016). She is also known for her matriarch roles in the South Korean family drama series "Men of the Bath House" (1995), "Be Strong Geum Soon" (2005), "Daughters-in-Law" (2007), "My Husband Got a Family" (2012), and "Dear My Friends" (2016). In 2022, she appeared in the television series "Pachinko" on Apple TV+.


title: Youn Yuh-jung

text: Youn Yuh jung was born on June 19, 1947 in Kaesong (today in North Korea), Gyeonggi Province, and grew up in Seoul. Her father died when she was young. She has two sisters. Her sister Youn Yeo-soon is a former executive at LG Group. She attended high school at Ewha Girls' High School, and enrolled at Hanyang University majoring in Korean Language and Literature, when she passed the open auditions held by TBC in 1966.


title: Youn Yuh-jung

text: She dropped out of college, and made her acting debut in the television drama "Mister Gom" in 1967. Youn shot to stardom in 1971 with two memorable portrayals of femme fatales. Her first film, Kim Ki-young's "Woman of Fire", became a critical and commercial hit, for which she won Best Actress at the Sitges Film Festival.


title: Youn Yuh-jung

text: This was followed by the MBC historical drama "Jang Hui-bin" where she played the titular infamous royal concubine. Kim was considered Korea's first style-conscious, experimental director, and Youn did not balk in playing risque, provocative characters that explore the grotesque in the female psyche in collaborations with him such as "The Insect Woman" (1972) and "Be a Wicked Woman" (1990). Audiences found Youn's fast way of speaking and atypical appearance refreshing and she frequently took roles in TV dramas depicting a modern woman of the new generation, notably in "Stepmother" (1972) written by Kim Soo-hyun.


title: Youn Yuh-jung

text: At the peak of her career, Youn retired after she married singer Jo Young-nam in 1974, then immigrated to the United States. In 1984, she returned to Korea and permanently resumed her acting career. She and Jo divorced in 1987 and struggled to resume her acting career due to the stigma of divorce in South Korea.


title: Youn Yuh-jung

text: Making a comeback after taking a long break was an unusual feat for a Korean middle-aged actress. Although most actresses her age played clichéd self-sacrificing mothers or coarse ajummas, Youn's acting range led to her being cast in more complex, stylish, and independent roles. In "A Good Lawyer's Wife" (2003), she drew critical acclaim for her nonchalant acting as a mother-in-law who neglected her husband dying of liver cancer and enjoyed extramarital affairs. Her frank and confident persona again manifested itself in E J-yong's mockumentary "Actresses" (2009).


title: Youn Yuh-jung

text: Youn continued playing supporting roles in film and television, such as in "The Housemaid" (2010). She reunited with director Im Sang-soo for the fourth time in "The Taste of Money" (2012), as a cruel chaebol heiress at the center of the drama that unfolds and touches upon the themes of corruption, greed and sex. Youn said "I don't mind being called an old actress, but I do worry about how to carry on my acting career without looking like an old fool."


title: Youn Yuh-jung

text: In 2013, she was cast as a loving mother to three loser children in Song Hae-sung's "Boomerang Family". Later in the year, Youn appeared in her first reality show "Sisters Over Flowers", a travel show shot in Croatia. After appearing on "Sisters Over Flowers", Youn has stated that her public image became more positive.


title: Youn Yuh-jung

text: Youn starred in two leading roles in 2015: Kang Je-gyu's "Salut d'Amour" about the romance between an elderly supermarket employee and a flower shop owner, and "Canola" about a Jeju Island female diver who reunites with her long-lost granddaughter. "Salut d'Amour" was Youn's first collaboration with actor Park Geun-hyung since 1971.


title: Youn Yuh-jung

text: In 2020, she made her Hollywood debut in a supporting role as Soon-ja, a grandma of a Korean-American family in rural Arkansas, in the American film "Minari", for which she received critical recognition from over forty American regional critics awards, including wins from the National Board of Review and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Youn went on to become the first Korean actress to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role, and BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She was also the first Asian actress to win an acting award in the motion pictures categories at the Screen Actors Guild Awards as well as the first Korean actress to win an Academy Award and first Asian actress to win an Academy Award since 1958 when Miyoshi Umeki won Best Supporting Actress for "Sayonara".


title: Youn Yuh-jung

text: In April 2021, Film at Lincoln Center hosted a five film retrospective of her career. In September 2021, she was selected as one of the 100 most "Influential People in the World" in 2021 by the American weekly magazine "TIME". She was named in the 'Titan' category. Youn received the Order of Cultural Merit.


title: Youn Yuh-jung

text: In December 2022, Youn's contract with Hook Entertainment ended, and she decided not to renew after 5 years.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: The 2021–22 season was the 136th in the history of Arsenal Football Club. It began on 1 July 2021 and concluded on 30 June 2022, with competitive matches played between August and May. This was Arsenal's 30th season in the Premier League, their 103rd consecutive season in the top-flight of English football, and their 112th season in the top-flight overall. In addition to the domestic league, Arsenal also participated in the FA Cup and EFL Cup, but they did not participate in any European competition for the first time since the 1995–96 season, owing to an eight-place finish the previous season.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: Managed by Mikel Arteta in his second full season, Arsenal were the youngest team in the Premier League with an average starting age of 24 years and 308 days – more than a whole year younger than the next team. They finished fifth in the Premier League, and qualified for next season's UEFA Europa League.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: On 24 June, Greek centre-back Konstantinos Mavropanos's loan spell at Bundesliga club Stuttgart was extended for another season.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: On 1 July, Arsenal released several players, of which the only first-team player was Brazilian centre-back David Luiz, who was at the end of his contract; Luiz later joined Brazilian top-flight side Flamengo in September. At the same time, Spanish midfielder Dani Ceballos and Australian goalkeeper Mathew Ryan finished their loan spells and returned to Real Madrid and Brighton & Hove Albion, respectively, though the latter would join Real Sociedad on 12 July. On 6 July, French midfielder Matteo Guendouzi, who spent the entirety of the previous season on loan at Bundesliga club Hertha Berlin, was once again loaned out, this time to Ligue 1 club Marseille for the entire Ligue 1 season. Arsenal's first signing of the summer transfer window came on 10 July, with 21-year-old Portuguese left-back Nuno Tavares arriving from Benfica for about £8 million.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: Arsenal had four players unavailable for pre-season friendlies, as Bernd Leno, Bukayo Saka, Kieran Tierney, and Granit Xhaka had competed in the Euros, which ended on 11 July. On 13 July, Arsenal began their pre-season tour of Scotland with a 2–1 defeat to Hibernian. This was followed by a match four days later against defending Scottish champions Rangers, who were celebrating their 150th anniversary. Arsenal fell behind twice but recovered for a 2–2 draw.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: Between the two Scottish friendlies, it was announced on 15 July that French centre-back William Saliba, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Nice, would join Guendouzi at Marseille on a season-long loan deal. On 19 July, Arsenal made their second acquisition, signing 21-year-old Belgian midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga from Anderlecht for about £17.2 million.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: The day after, Arsenal withdrew from the seventh edition of the Florida Cup, citing "a small number of positive COVID-19 tests" among the staff. They had been set to compete with fellow Premier League club Everton, Serie A club Inter Milan, and Colombian top-flight club Millionarios, but they and fellow withdrawals Inter Milan were replaced by Atlético Nacional, also from the Colombian first division, and Liga MX club Pumas UNAM.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: In lieu of the Florida Cup matches, Arsenal organised friendlies at their London Colney training ground against two other London sides, Millwall from the EFL Championship on 24 July and newly promoted Premier League side Watford on 28 July, with both matches finishing 4–1 to Arsenal.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: Arsenal concluded the month with the announced signing of 23-year-old English centre-back Ben White on 30 July, who joined from fellow Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion on a £50 million deal.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: To finish their pre-season, Arsenal participated in the Mind Series pre-season tournament, which supported Mind and other mental health charities, against London rivals Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur. The Gunners faced Chelsea on 1 August at home in the first of the two matches. Manager Mikel Arteta opted to not start any of the new signings, although Ben White was substituted on at halftime for his debut. Granit Xhaka's second-half header equalised after Kai Havertz's first-half goal, but minutes later, Tammy Abraham capitalised on an Arsenal defensive error to give Chelsea the lead again. A shot from Joe Willock in the last ten minutes looked to have crossed the goal line, but without the aid of goal-line technology, referee Andre Marriner did not award the goal, and the match ended 2–1 to Chelsea.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: For their last pre-season game, Arsenal played their second Mind Series match, this time away to Tottenham Hotspur on 8 August, with Ben White joining fellow new signing Albert Sambi Lokonga in the starting lineup. After both teams came close to scoring on several occasions, Tottenham broke the deadlock in the 79th minute, as Son Heung-min finishing off a cross from Serge Aurier for the game's solitary goal. By losing both of the matches, Arsenal finished at the bottom of the tournament, while Chelsea beat Tottenham for the inaugural title on goals scored.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: After being loaned to fellow Premier League side Newcastle United at the end of last season's winter transfer window, Joe Willock had scored eight goals in 14 league appearances, and manager Steve Bruce was keen on bringing him back. As a result, on 13 August, Arsenal announced the transfer of the academy graduate from the first team to Newcastle United on a six-year deal worth at least £20 million.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: That same day, Arsenal opened the new Premier League season and headed to the Brentford Community Stadium in west London to take on newly promoted Brentford F.C., who were making their Premier League debut. The Gunners began the season without Alexandre Lacazette and captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who were ruled out a few hours prior to kick-off due to illness, while Ben White and Albert Sambi Lokonga made their competitive debuts for the team. Academy graduate Folarin Balogun was also named to the starting lineup for his Premier League debut. After Bryan Mbeumo hit the post in the 12th minute, Sergi Canós scored the opening goal of the season 10 minutes later. Meanwhile, Arsenal struggled offensively, with Kieran Tierney having their only shot on target in the first half. In the 73rd minute, Christian Nørgaard doubled Brentford's lead, heading in a long throw-in from substitute Mads Bech Sørensen. Despite several close opportunities, Arsenal were unable to find a consolation goal, and as a result, they opened the season with a 2–0 loss.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: On 20 August, Arsenal announced two more signings. Norwegian midfielder Martin Ødegaard, who had been on loan at Arsenal from Real Madrid for the second half of last season, joined on a permanent deal worth £34 million. Meanwhile, English goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale joined from Sheffield United, which had been relegated from the Premier League last season, in a deal worth up to £30 million.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: Arsenal played the home opener of their Premier League campaign on 22 August against cross-town rivals Chelsea. The match was decided by two first-half goals, a tap-in from Romelu Lukaku and a top-corner strike from Reece James. With a second consecutive 2–0 loss to open the season, Arsenal dropped to 19th, just ahead of last-placed Norwich City on goal difference.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: On 25 August, ahead of their first Carabao Cup match of the season, Arsenal announced that Lucas Torreira would once again go out on loan, this time to Serie A team ACF Fiorentina for the entire 2021–22 season. Torreira had spent the entirety of last season on loan at La Liga team Atlético Madrid, accumulating 26 appearances and one goal in all competitions; Atlético Madrid went on to win the league.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: Arsenal entered the Carabao Cup in the second round, facing Championship side West Bromwich Albion away at the Hawthorns. Aaron Ramsdale made his debut and started in goal, while Martin Ødegaard made his first start as a full-fledged Arsenal player. With West Brom opting to field a team of mostly backup and academy players, Arsenal dominated the game from start to end. In the first half, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored two goals before Nicolas Pépé added a third in stoppage time, tapping the ball in after Aubameyang's failed bicycle kick attempt. Bukayo Saka scored five minutes into the second half before Aubameyang completed his hat-trick in the 62nd minute. Substitute Alexandre Lacazette further increased Arsenal's lead seven minutes later, and they won 6–0 to advance to the third round.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: On 28 August, Arsenal continued their Premier League campaign, facing Manchester City away at the Etihad Stadium. A seventh-minute header from İlkay Gündoğan, which Bernd Leno only managed to punch into the roof of the net, was followed by a close-range goal from Ferran Torres five minutes later. Referee Martin Atkinson showed Granit Xhaka a red card for a dangerous tackle on João Cancelo in the 35th minute. With the man advantage, Manchester City added a third goal shortly before halftime, with Gabriel Jesus redirecting a pass from Jack Grealish into the goal. Manchester City added two more goals in the second half, first with Rodri early in the second half, and then with Torres scoring his second goal of the game by beating Leno to head in a cross from Riyad Mahrez. With the 5–0 result and their third consecutive loss to open their Premier League campaign, Arsenal dropped to 20th, sitting at the bottom of the table and behind both Wolverhampton Wanderers and Norwich City on goal difference and goals scored.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: With the end of the summer transfer window approaching at the end of the month, Arsenal sought to make some final transactions. On 30 August, Willian, who had two years remaining in his contract, left by mutual consent and returned to boyhood club Corinthians in Brazil. On the final day of the transfer window, three first team players were loaned out for the rest of the 2021–22 season: Reiss Nelson joined Feyenoord in the Eredivisie, Rúnar Alex Rúnarsson joined OH Leuven in the Belgian First Division A, and Héctor Bellerín joined Real Betis in La Liga. Meanwhile, the club made one deadline day signing, adding 22-year-old Japanese defender Takehiro Tomiyasu from Serie A side Bologna on a £16 million deal.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: Ahead of the international break, Arsenal held a friendly against Brentford, to whom they had lost their first game of the Premier League campaign. The match was held behind closed doors at the Arsenal Training Centre in London Colney. After neither team scored in the first half, Arsenal scored twice early in the second half. The opener, which was scored by Gabriel, returning from injury, was followed by a free kick from Alexandre Lacazette at the hour mark. Cédric scored twice in the final 15 minutes to cap off the 4–0 victory and avenge Arsenal's opening day loss.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: After the international break, Arsenal, sitting at the bottom of the Premier League standings, took on 19th placed Norwich City at home on 11 September. New signing Takehiro Tomiyasu made his debut, starting at right back, while Aaron Ramsdale started over Bernd Leno in goal. The match remained scoreless at halftime, though Arsenal came close on several occasions. In the 66th minute, an initial shot by Nicolas Pépé rebounded off the post back to him, and he was immediately tackled by Brandon Williams before he could take a second shot. The ball then ricocheted off several players before Aubameyang tapped it in; a VAR check confirmed that the goal was onside, thus putting Arsenal into the lead and giving them their first Premier League goal of the season. Although Arsenal were unable to score a second goal, the 1–0 win was Arsenal's first of their Premier League campaign, and it elevated them out of the bottom three positions.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: Aaron Ramsdale kept his place in goal as Arsenal travelled to Turf Moor to play Burnley on 18 September. After Ashley Westwood clipped Bukayo Saka just outside of the penalty arc, Martin Ødegaard scored the ensuing 25-yard free kick in the 30th minute. In the 68th minute, Matěj Vydra chased down Ben White's back pass to Ramsdale before being closed down and tackled in the box by the latter. Referee Anthony Taylor awarded Burnley a penalty, having originally thought that Ramsdale made contact with Vydra before the ball, but Taylor reversed his decision after taking a second look at the incident on the pitchside VAR monitor. Neither team had many other close shots on goal, but a second consecutive 1–0 victory improved Arsenal to 13th.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: In the midweek match, Arsenal faced EFL League One team AFC Wimbledon on 22 September at home in the third round of the Carabao Cup. Manager Mikel Arteta fielded an almost entirely new starting eleven, with Thomas Partey the only holdover from the squad that started against Burnley and Eddie Nketiah making his season debut. Early in the match, Alexandre Lacazette converted a penalty following a foul on Gabriel Martinelli. Late in the second half, Emile Smith Rowe and Nketiah both scored in a three-minute span to secure the 3–0 victory, advancing Arsenal into the fourth round.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: The first of two North London derby matches in the Premier League season took place on 25 September, as Arsenal hosted rivals Tottenham Hotspur at the Emirates Stadium. In the 12th minute, Emile Smith Rowe ran in front of Davinson Sánchez to strike in a pass from Bukayo Saka past Hugo Lloris. Arsenal were on the break 15 minutes later, with Smith Rowe passing to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for Arsenal's second goal. A third goal came in the 34th minute, as Saka scored off the rebound after Harry Kane had tackled the ball. With just over 10 minutes to go, Son Heung-min finally scored Tottenham's first goal of the match after receiving Sergio Reguilón's cross; Aaron Ramsdale managed to get his left hand to the ball but could not keep it out. In stoppage time, Ramsdale made a leaping save to deny a top-corner shot from Lucas Moura. The 3–1 victory was Arsenal's third in a row after losing their first three matches; meanwhile, Tottenham lost their third game in a row after starting off with three wins and topping the league table. As a result, Arsenal moved up to 10th place, tied on points and goal difference with Tottenham in 11th but ahead due to goals scored.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: After guiding Arsenal to wins in all three of their Premier League matches of the month, manager Mikel Arteta was named as the Premier League Manager of the Month over Pep Guardiola (Manchester City), Jürgen Klopp (Liverpool), Graham Potter (Brighton & Hove Albion), and Dean Smith (Aston Villa). This was Arteta's first Manager of the Month award and the first for an Arsenal manager since Arsène Wenger's October 2015 award.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: Arsenal's first match of the month was a Premier League match away to Brighton & Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium on 2 October. Albert Sambi Lokonga played in place of Granit Xhaka, who had been ruled out for up to three months after suffering a knee injury in the match against Tottenham Hotspur. In the last few minutes of the match, penalty claims from Brighton for a shove on Shane Duffy by Gabriel were dismissed by VAR. Neither team was able to score all game, though Brighton had the majority of possession as well as 21 shots to Arsenal's eight; of these shots, both teams had two on target.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: During the international break, Arsenal hosted fellow London side Queens Park Rangers F.C. from the EFL Championship for a closed-door friendly match at the London Colney training ground on 6 October. Arsenal won 3–2, although the goal scorers for either team were not made publicly known.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: On 18 October, Arsenal took on south London side Crystal Palace, managed by former Arsenal player Patrick Vieira. In the eighth minute, a shot from Nicolas Pépé was parried by goalkeeper Vicente Guaita to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who beat James McArthur to tap in the rebound. Crystal Palace equalized early in the second half; after Jordan Ayew dispossessed Thomas Partey, Christian Benteke scored with the rebound. In the 73rd minute, after Conor Gallagher dispossessed Albert Sambi Lokonga and Crystal Palace were on the break, Odsonne Édouard scored off the underside of the crossbar to give Crystal Palace the lead. Arsenal finally drew even in the fifth minute of stoppage time, with a shot from Ben White deflected by Guaita into the path of substitute Alexandre Lacazette for a tap-in, and the game ended 2–2.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: In their second Premier League match at home in four days, 12th-placed Arsenal hosted 13th-placed Aston Villa. Left-back Kieran Tierney missed his first Premier League match of the season due to a bruised right ankle, thus giving Nuno Tavares his first Premier League start. Thomas Partey scored a header off Emile Smith Rowe's corner in the 23rd minute for his first Arsenal goal. In first-half stoppage time, referee Craig Pawson consulted the pitchside VAR monitor for Matt Targett's challenge on Alexandre Lacazette and awarded Arsenal a penalty. Former Arsenal goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez saved Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's initial shot by diving down to his left, but Aubameyang tapped in the rebound. Ten minutes into the second half, Smith Rowe intercepted a pass from John McGinn to Matty Cash, with the ball rebounding to Albert Sambi Lokonga, who passed out wide to Tavares. Tavares's through pass to Aubameyang was then flicked forward to Smith Rowe, who continued his run before eventually firing a shot that deflected off Tyrone Mings and the near post past Martínez. Aston Villa were able to score a consolation goal late in the match when Leon Bailey's run along the edge of the box took the ball into the path of Jacob Ramsey, whose first-time shot found the top corner, but Arsenal hung on for the 3–1 victory.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: In the midweek match at home against fellow Premier League club Leeds United on 26 October in the fourth round of the EFL Cup, Bernd Leno made his first start in goal since the previous round's match against AFC Wimbledon a month ago. Neither team scored in the first half, but ten minutes into the second half, Calum Chambers was substituted on in place of an injured Ben White before scoring the opening goal 23 seconds later. After Emile Smith Rowe's corner was headed around the box by Eddie Nketiah and Nicolas Pépé, Chambers beat Jack Harrison to the header; referee Andre Marriner confirmed that the ball had crossed the goal line before Illan Meslier could parry the ball away. On 69 minutes, Arsenal doubled their lead when Nketiah intercepted a backwards header from Leeds captain Liam Cooper to Meslier, guided the ball over Meslier, and slotted in the goal from a narrow angle; this was Nketiah's second goal in as many appearances all season. The 2–0 result advanced Arsenal to the quarter-finals, in which they were drawn at home against League One team Sunderland.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: Arsenal finished the month away to Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on 30 October, with the match being decided by two early goals. After Daniel Amartey nearly scored an own goal in the opening minute, Gabriel scored a header, and his first goal of the season, in the fifth minute on a corner from Bukayo Saka, who was making his 100th senior club appearance. In the eighteenth minute, Alexandre Lacazette received a pass from Saka before running into a crowd of Leicester defenders in the box. After Jonny Evans dispossessed Lacazette, Luke Thomas's attempted clearance fell to Emile Smith Rowe, who fired in the second goal. Meanwhile, Aaron Ramsdale made several key saves in a performance that earned him his first Man of the Match as an Arsenal player. Among these was a leaping save near the end of the first half to parry a James Maddison free kick onto the crossbar before Evans's shot from the rebound was cleared off the line by Thomas Partey. The 2–0 victory extended Arsenal's unbeaten streak since the beginning of September to seven matches in the league and nine in all competitions.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: Arsenal's successful defensive performances led to Aaron Ramsdale being nominated for the Premier League's Player of the Month Award, which was ultimately won by Liverpool's Mohamed Salah.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: On 7 November, Arsenal faced Watford at home. In the seventh minute, Ainsley Maitland-Niles dispossessed Ismaïla Sarr before Alexandre Lacazette's chipped ball was deflected by Ben Foster to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Aubameyang's first touch then took the ball into the path of Bukayo Saka, whose shot went in between Nicolas Nkoulou and a recovering Foster for what seemed to be the opening goal. However, while Saka was in front of Nkoulou, he was also behind of Foster, thus making him offside, and the goal was disallowed. In the 34th minute, referee Kevin Friend awarded Arsenal a penalty after Danny Rose ran into Lacazette, who was trying to control an errant shot from Maitland-Niles. Foster then saved Aubameyang's penalty before recovering the rebound. In the 56th minute, Ben White regained possession of the ball in the Arsenal offensive third and ran forward, evading Juraj Kucka and Joshua King before running into Moussa Sissoko. The ball then fell to Emile Smith Rowe on the edge of the box, who fired into the far corner for what would be the match's only goal, as well as Smith Rowe's third goal in as many Premier League matches. Martin Ødegaard nearly scored a second goal on 73 minutes, but Aubameyang, who had been in an offside position, touched the ball right before it crossed the goal line. In the 89th minute, Kucka, who was already on a yellow card after a foul on Lacazette in the first half, was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Nuno Tavares and was sent off. The 1–0 victory continued Arsenal's rise up the table, as they moved into fifth place.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: After the international break, Arsenal travelled to Anfield to take on Liverpool on 20 November. After there was contact between Takehiro Tomiyasu and Sadio Mané as the players were challenging for a header, managers Mikel Arteta and Jürgen Klopp engaged in a verbal dispute on the sideline, for which referee Michael Oliver showed a yellow card to both managers. After Mané and Mohamed Salah were both denied by point-blank saves from Aaron Ramsdale earlier in the game, Mané headed a Trent Alexander-Arnold free kick into the ground and away from Ramsdale for the opening goal in the 39th minute. Early in the second half, Diogo Jota added a second goal for Liverpool after intercepting a backwards pass from Nuno Tavares. In the 73rd minute, a fast break by Liverpool was finished off with Mané centering the ball for Salah to finish from close range. Four minutes later, Takumi Minamino, having just been substituted into the match, slotted home Alexander-Arnold's cross at the back post after just 48 seconds on the pitch. The 4–0 defeat ended Arsenal's unbeaten run at eight matches in the league and 10 in all competitions, although they remained in fifth.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: Arsenal rebounded seven days later against bottom-of-the-table Newcastle United and new manager Eddie Howe, who made his debut in the Newcastle dugout; Howe had missed his first match the previous week in quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19. Neither team was able to score in the first half. Jonjo Shelvey came closest for Newcastle in the 30th minute, with his shot parried onto the crossbar by Aaron Ramsdale. Shortly before halftime, after Emile Smith Rowe's header was saved by Martin Dúbravka, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang missed from close range and kicked the rebound against the outside of the post. In the 56th minute, Bukayo Saka passed back to Smith Rowe, who passed infield to Nuno Tavares; meanwhile, Saka had continued his run forward, and after receiving the ball from Tavares, he fired a low shot into the far corner past Dúbravka for the opening goal. Eight minutes later, Saka was forced off with an injury and was replaced by Gabriel Martinelli. Less than two minutes after coming on, Martinelli finished off a chipped pass from Takehiro Tomiyasu with a first-time volley to bolster Arsenal's lead. Arsenal maintained their 2–0 lead to win the match and stay in fifth place.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: Arsenal began December with a midweek fixture at Old Trafford on 2 December away to Manchester United, who were led by caretaker manager Michael Carrick in his last game before interim manager Ralf Rangnick taking over. From a 13th minute corner by Martin Ødegaard, Emile Smith Rowe scored the opening goal from outside of the box, with the assist from Mohamed Elneny after Harry Maguire's initial clearance. Referee Martin Atkinson was initially hesitant to award the goal, as goalkeeper David de Gea lay injured after having his ankle stepped on by his teammate Fred, but the goal was made official after VAR review. Shortly before halftime, Manchester United equalized after Jadon Sancho passed infield to Fred, who squared the ball for Bruno Fernandes to slot it in past Aaron Ramsdale. In the 52nd minute, the home side took the lead as Cristiano Ronaldo finished off Marcus Rashford's low cross. However, Arsenal equalized less than two minutes later; on the right flank, Gabriel Martinelli received Thomas Partey's through pass before firing a low cross into the box for Ødegaard, whose shot curled in past the reach of de Gea. In the 68th minute, Atkinson initially did not award a penalty to Manchester United after Ødegaard's tackle on Fred, but he reversed his decision after consulting the pitchside VAR monitor. Ronaldo scored again, converting the penalty for his 800th career goal and the decisive goal of the match. Despite the 3–2 defeat, Arsenal remained in fifth place for the fourth consecutive matchweek.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: Four days later, Arsenal lost their second game in a row after playing away to Everton at Goodison Park, with Granit Xhaka making his return from injury. Minutes before halftime, a free kick from Andros Townsend was headed in by Richarlison, but the goal was disallowed as the latter was found to be offside by VAR. However, in first-half stoppage time, Arsenal scored the opening goal with Martin Ødegaard slotting in a cross from Kieran Tierney with a side-foot volley. In the 56th minute, Richarlison seemed to have scored after receiving a pass from Abdoulaye Doucouré, but he was ruled offside by VAR again. Richarlison was finally able to score in the 80th minute, as he headed in the rebound after a Demarai Gray shot from outside the box hit the crossbar. After Eddie Nketiah missed a close-range header in the 84th minute, Gray scored Everton's second goal of the game in the second of six minutes of stoppage time. Gray's winning strike, which came from a similar location to the one that hit the crossbar, hit off the far post and into the goal, resulting in a 2–1 loss for Arsenal.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: On 11 December, Arsenal returned home to the Emirates Stadium for a match against a depleted Southampton side, who were without several key outfield players and both first-choice goalkeepers, with emergency goalkeeper Willy Caballero starting after signing earlier in the week. Meanwhile, Arsenal themselves started without captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who had reportedly been dropped to the bench for a 'disciplinary breach' by manager Mikel Arteta. In the 21st minute, Arsenal scored first after playing out from the back, as a series of passes down the length of the pitch culminated with Bukayo Saka's low cutback being finished off by Alexandre Lacazette. Six minutes later, Arsenal doubled their lead. After Kieran Tierney received Takehiro Tomiyasu's high pass at the back post, his cross was blocked by Tino Livramento; however, Tierney recovered the rebound and headed the ball to Martin Ødegaard, who scored a header for his third goal in as many matches. After Gabriel had a tap-in disallowed for being offside in the 59th minute, he headed in a corner from Gabriel Martinelli three minutes later. Arsenal continued to apply pressure to Southampton in the search of a fourth goal, but both Martinelli and Saka hit the posts with their shots. Meanwhile, Aaron Ramsdale made six saves to secure the clean sheet and a 3–0 win.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: The day before the home match against West Ham United on 15 December, the club announced that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would be stripped of the club captaincy due to repeated disciplinary breaches and would not be considered for the West Ham match. Manager Mikel Arteta elaborated that the captaincy would be shared among a "'leadership group' of senior players," including Alexandre Lacazette and Granit Xhaka, the latter of whom had preceded Aubameyang as captain.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: After Alexandre Lacazette had assumed the captaincy role against Southampton, manager Mikel Arteta opted to retain him as captain against West Ham. Three minutes into the second half, Lacazette played a through pass to Gabriel Martinelli, who ran past the West Ham defense and curled in the opening goal. In the 67th minute, Vladimír Coufal, who was already on a yellow card after contact with Kieran Tierney in the 11th minute, was sent off after a second yellow card following a tackle on Lacazette in the box. For the same foul, referee Anthony Taylor awarded Arsenal a penalty, which Lacazette took but was saved by Łukasz Fabiański. On 87 minutes, after Takehiro Tomiyasu dispossessed Saïd Benrahma, Bukayo Saka recovered the ball before passing it near the center line to substitute Emile Smith Rowe, who continued his run and scored a second goal for Arsenal. The 2–0 victory moved Arsenal into the top four for the first time all season.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: With a rise in positive COVID-19 test results forcing the postponement of the other five matches scheduled for 18 December, Arsenal's match away to an injury-stricken Leeds United at Elland Road was the only remaining Premier League fixture that day. In the 16th minute, after Alexandre Lacazette dispossessed Adam Forshaw in the box, Gabriel Martinelli recovered the loose ball and fired it in first time for the opening goal; this goal was Arsenal's 7,000th scored in the top flight of English football. Twelve minutes later, Granit Xhaka intercepted a pass from Stuart Dallas intended for Mateusz Klich near midfield and played a through pass to Martinelli, who scored to double Arsenal's lead. Three minutes from halftime, Bukayo Saka scored the third goal after his shot deflected off Klich's foot and past Illan Meslier. Notably, Arsenal's 11 shots on target in the first half were the most in the first half of all Premier League matches since the 2003–04 season (also the season of the Invincibles), when Opta began recording such statistics. After Ben White's tackle on Joe Gelhardt, referee Andre Marriner awarded Leeds a penalty, which Raphinha converted in the 75th minute. Substitute Emile Smith Rowe capped off the match by finishing off a pass from Martin Ødegaard to give Arsenal a 4–1 win.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: On 21 December, Arsenal hosted League One side Sunderland in the EFL Cup quarter-finals, with Nicolas Pépé making his 100th appearance for Arsenal. Cédric's corner in the 17th minute was headed towards goal by Rob Holding, only for Lee Burge to parry the ball into the path of Eddie Nketiah, who continued his three-match run of scoring in the EFL Cup and put in the tap-in from close range. In the 27th minute, Pépé received a cutback from Cédric and fired a shot, which was deflected by Callum Doyle into the roof of the net to double Arsenal's lead. However, Sunderland scored four minutes later, as Nathan Broadhead received a through pass from Elliot Embleton and lifted the ball over an onrushing Bernd Leno into the goal. Four minutes into the second half, Nketiah scored his second goal, stepping in front of Doyle to redirect a low cross from Nuno Tavares. In the 58th minute, Nketiah completed his hat trick, beating Tom Flanagan to a pass from Pépé and scoring with a backheel finish. In second half stoppage time, Pépé once again provided the assist, this time to Charlie Patino, who had been substituted on ten minutes prior for his senior team debut and slid the ball in past Burge. The 5–1 result advanced Arsenal to the semi-finals for the first time since the 2017–18 edition, while Nketiah's hat trick made him the joint top goalscorer with Brentford's Marcus Forss on five goals.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: Arsenal then headed to Carrow Road for a Boxing Day match against Norwich City. Bukayo Saka scored the opening goal in the sixth minute after receiving a pass from Martin Ødegaard and shooting through the legs of Brandon Williams. Arsenal's second goal was also assisted by Ødegaard, as he found Kieran Tierney on the left flank, who ran into the box and fired a low shot across goal just before halftime. In the 67th minute, Saka scored again after receiving a pass from Alexandre Lacazette and beating Williams one-on-one before shooting from the edge of the box. Ozan Kabak tripped Lacazette as the latter was receiving a pass from Emile Smith Rowe, prompting referee Graham Scott to award Arsenal a penalty in the 84th minute, which Lacazette then converted. In second half stoppage time, substitute Nicolas Pépé's pass across the box deflected off Kabak to Smith Rowe, who finished at the back post for his third goal in as many matches, all of which have come as a substitute. The 5–0 win meant that Arsenal ended the year on a four-match win streak.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: Arsenal's performances in December led to several Premier League monthly award nominations. Alexandre Lacazette's goal to finish off a 'flowing' team move against Southampton was nominated for Goal of the Month, while manager Mikel Arteta was nominated for Manager of the Month. Additionally, both Martin Ødegaard and Gabriel Martinelli were nominated for Player of the Month. Though the latter two awards were ultimately won by Manchester City's Pep Guardiola and Raheem Sterling, respectively, Lacazette's goal was named the Goal of the Month.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: In the first Premier League fixture of 2022, Arsenal hosted Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium on New Year's Day. Dutch assistant manager Albert Stuivenberg filled in for manager Mikel Arteta, who had tested positive for COVID-19 on 29 December and was forced to miss the match. An Arsenal penalty call in the 10th minute after contact between Martin Ødegaard and Ederson was dismissed by VAR. However, Arsenal took the lead after the half-hour mark when Kieran Tierney found Bukayo Saka in the box, who slotted the ball in as Alexandre Lacazette screened off Nathan Aké. Manchester City equalized when Riyad Mahrez converted a 57th-minute penalty, which had been awarded by referee Stuart Attwell after he deemed Granit Xhaka to have committed a foul on Bernardo Silva. Immediately following the restart, Aké made a goal line clearance on Aymeric Laporte's header to prevent the own goal before Gabriel Martinelli missed the follow-up just wide of the top corner. Less than a minute later, Attwell sent off Gabriel after the latter picked up a second yellow card for a foul on Gabriel Jesus; Attwell had shown him his first yellow card following the Mahrez penalty for dissent. With Manchester City having the man advantage, Rodri scored the winning goal in stoppage time after Laporte's initial shot had been blocked by Ben White, giving the visitors a 2–1 win.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: On 5 January, it was announced that the first leg of the EFL Cup semi-finals against Liverpool, which was to be held the following day, was postponed to 13 January due to a COVID-19 outbreak among Liverpool's players and staff, with the second leg to be played a week later. This also led a change in the home team order, with Liverpool now hosting the first leg and Arsenal hosting the second leg.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: Ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations, five players were called up by their respective countries; these were Mohamed Elneny (Egypt), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon), Thomas Partey (Ghana), and Nicolas Pépé (Ivory Coast), with academy player Omar Rekik also being called up for Tunisia.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: Ahead of the FA Cup third round match against EFL Championship club Nottingham Forest on 9 January, the club announced the release of a one-off, all-white fourth kit that would be worn during the match. The kit, which is not commercially available and will be "awarded to individuals who are making a positive difference in the community," is part of a campaign to raise awareness about knife crime and youth violence, which contributed to the highest number of teenage murders in a year in London since records began.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: Arsenal's FA Cup campaign ended after just one match, as Nottingham Forest won 1–0 at the City Ground due to an 83rd-minute goal from Lewis Grabban, who finished a cross from Ryan Yates. Meanwhile, Arsenal struggled offensively all game and registered no shots on target despite dominating the time of possession. Additionally, in a rare first-half, non-injury substitution, manager Mikel Arteta sent on Kieran Tierney in place of a 'struggling' Nuno Tavares in the 35th minute. This was the first time since the 2017–18 edition that Arsenal were knocked out in the third round, which also came at the hands of Nottingham Forest.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: Four days later, Arsenal travelled to Anfield for the first leg of the EFL Cup semi-finals against Liverpool. An injury to Cédric early in the match forced a substitution in the 11th minute, with Calum Chambers replacing him at right-back. Moments later, Arsenal nearly conceded the opening goal, as Jordan Henderson charged down and blocked a long kick from Aaron Ramsdale, but the deflection went wide of the open goal and resulted in a Liverpool corner. In the 24th minute, Granit Xhaka was sent off by referee Michael Oliver for a high boot and a denial of a clear goal-scoring opportunity, as the former attempted to intercept a long pass from Andrew Robertson to Diogo Jota. The red card meant that Xhaka would miss Arsenal's next two matches. It also prompted Arteta to make another early substitution, with centre-back Rob Holding replacing striker Eddie Nketiah to provide defensive cover. Despite playing with only 10 players for the rest of the match, Arsenal held Liverpool to a 0–0 draw, with Takumi Minamino shooting over an open goal in the closing minutes and missing Liverpool's other best scoring chance.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: On 15 January, the Premier League accepted Arsenal's request to postpone the match against Tottenham Hotspur, which would have been held the following day, due to an insufficient amount of available players in the Arsenal squad as a result of COVID-19, existing and recent injuries, and players away with their countries at the Africa Cup of Nations.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: On 18 January, Sead Kolašinac left the club by mutual consent and signed with Ligue 1 club Olympique de Marseille, joining up with Arsenal loanees Matteo Guendouzi and William Saliba. Two days later, Pablo Marí was loaned out to Serie A club Udinese until the end of the season.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: That same day, in the second leg of the EFL Cup semi-finals, Arsenal were knocked out of the competition at home 2–0 by Liverpool, thanks to a brace from Diogo Jota. Both sides came close to scoring early in the match, with Alexandre Lacazette's fifth-minute free kick hitting the crossbar and Joël Matip's tap-in disallowed for offside minutes later, before Jota scored the opener in the 17th minute. After Liverpool came close with Ibrahima Konaté's header from a Trent Alexander-Arnold corner hitting the post early in the second half, they finally scored a second goal as Jota received a long pass from Alexander-Arnold and chipped the ball over an onrushing Aaron Ramsdale. To make matters worse for Arsenal, 74th-minute substitute Thomas Partey, who had just returned from international duty after Ghana's early elimination from the Africa Cup of Nations, received a second yellow card for a late tackle on Fabinho and was sent off in the closing minutes of the game, having received his first yellow card for a foul on Neco Williams minutes earlier.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: Arsenal returned to Premier League competition on 23 January at home against Burnley. However, despite Arsenal having three times as much possession as Burnley and dominating shots and corners, neither team was able to break the deadlock and the match finished 0–0, which ended Arsenal's month-long spell in fourth place and dropped them to sixth.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: The club continued their exodus of players in the winter transfer window, as Calum Chambers joined fellow Premier League club Aston Villa on a permanent transfer announced on 27 January.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: On the final day of that transfer window, Arsenal made their first and only first-team acquisition, signing 23-year-old American centre-back Auston Trusty from Major League Soccer club Colorado Rapids, although Trusty will stay with the Rapids on loan until 17 July 2022. The following day, it was announced that former captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who had not been selected for any match squads since the loss to Everton in early December, had left the club by mutual consent, with it being announced later that he had joined La Liga club Barcelona.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: After the international break, Arsenal travelled to Molineux to face Wolverhampton Wanderers on 10 February. In the 25th minute, after a half-clearance from a Gabriel Martinelli corner, both Alexandre Lacazette and José Sá went for the ball and missed, with Gabriel scoring the tap-in for the game's only goal. In the 69th minute, referee Michael Oliver showed Martinelli two yellow cards in quick succession, amounting to a red card and dismissal; the first was for shoving Daniel Podence and preventing a quick throw-in, and the second was for chasing him down and fouling him again. Despite being reduced to 10 players, Arsenal maintained their lead and won 1–0.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: On 19 February, Arsenal hosted Brentford, to whom they had lost the season opener. Neither club scored in the first half, but three minutes into the second half, Emile Smith Rowe broke the deadlock with his low curling shot past David Raya. In the 79th minute, Arsenal were on the break, and Bukayo Saka finished off a pass from Thomas Partey with a curling strike that ricocheted in off the far post. However, Brentford scoring a consolation goal in stoppage time, with a scramble in the box following a Saman Ghoddos free kick resulting in Christian Norgaard's close-range strike, which was confirmed after a VAR check for offside. There was not enough time for Brentford to seek an equalising goal, so Arsenal won 2–1.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: Arsenal continued to make up their games in hand and played the reverse fixture against Wolverhampton Wanderers at home on 25 February; the match had originally been scheduled for 28 December 2021 but was postponed due to a lack of available players in the Wolves squad as a result of numerous injuries and positive COVID-19 test results. Wolves scored first, with Hwang Hee-chan intercepting a back pass from Gabriel to Aaron Ramsdale and scoring in the 10th minute. They maintained their lead for most of the match, until Arsenal equalised in the 82nd minute. Substitute Eddie Nketiah received Martin Ødegaard's lofted pass and cut it back for fellow substitute Nicolas Pépé, who spun around and scored with his stronger left foot. Five minutes into stoppage time, Alexandre Lacazette received a pass from Pépé and shot towards goal, with the strike being diverted into the top corner off José Sá's glove, giving Arsenal another 2–1 win.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: Arsenal went to Vicarage Road on 6 March to face Watford. Less than 20 seconds into the match, Emmanuel Dennis scored but the goal was ruled offside. In the fifth minute, Martin Ødegaard slotted the ball past Ben Foster after receiving a pass from Bukayo Saka. Watford levelled the score six minutes later with a bicycle kick from Cucho Hernández. At the half-hour mark, Alexandre Lacazette returned a pass to Saka, who struck into the top corner. In the 52nd minute, Lacazette provided another assist, setting the ball for Gabriel Martinelli's strike. A late goal from Moussa Sissoko reduced Watford's deficit, but Arsenal held on for a 3–2 victory and moved back into the top four.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: On 14 March, Arsenal faced Leicester City at home. The Gunner's opened the scoring just after the 10th minute. A corner by Gabriel Martinelli was met by the head of Thomas Partey at the near-post. Partey could have had a brace just 7 minutes later, when a deflected shot by Granit Xhaka dropped to the Ghanaian, who saw his shot from the edge of the box rattle off the Leicester upright. Leicester nearly found an equaliser in the 34th minute, when a cross by Marc Albrighton was headed towards goal by Barnes. The header from just outside the six-yard box was met by a strong right palm from goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale. In the 54th minute, Arsenal had a penalty shout when Thomas Partey's header was glanced by the hand of defender Çağlar Söyüncü. After a lengthy VAR check, referee Anthony Taylor awarded the Gunners a penalty. The resulting spot-kick was converted by Alexandre Lacazette. Thereby doubling Arsenal's lead in the 59th minute and also marking Alexandre Lacazette's 200th senior career goal. The result brought Arsenal back into fourth, leapfrogging Manchester United.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: Arsenal welcomed Liverpool to the Emirates Stadium on 17 March. The Gunner's fought valiantly in the first half, limiting Liverpool's dominant attacking players to speculative half-chances. However, failing to capitalize on their own chances. The momentum swung Liverpool's way in the second-half, with Sadio Mané netting a goal which was immediately chalked off for offside within 2 minutes of the half. Arsenal could have broken the deadlock themselves, when Martin Ødegaard's shot was saved by goalkeeper Alisson Becker following a misplaced back-pass by Thiago Alcântara. The opener was finally scored by Diogo Jota in the 54th minute, with his shot beating Aaron Ramsdale at the near-post following a through-ball by Thiago. Liverpool would go on to double their lead 8 minutes later, when Roberto Firmino tapped-in from close range via a cross by Andy Robertson.


title: 2021–22 Arsenal F.C. season

text: Arsenal kicked off the month of April with an away trip to Selhurst Park to face Crystal Palace on 4 April. Goals from Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jordan Ayew before half-time and a Wilfried Zaha penalty condemned Arsenal to a 3-0 defeat. Next, Arsenal hosted Brighton on 9 April. Brighton ended up with a 2 goal lead thanks to goals from Leandro Trossard and Enock Mwepu. An 89th minute goal from Martin Ødergaard was too late, as Arsenal ended up losing 1-2 to the visitors. Arsenal's losing streak increased to three consecutive matches with Arsenal losing 1-0 to Southampton F.C. at the St Mary's Stadium, on 16 April, due to a goal from Jan Bednarek in the 44th minute. Arsenal finally ended their three-match losing streak on 20 April with a 4-2 away win at Stamford Bridge vs Chelsea, with a brace from Eddie Nketiah, and goals from Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka. Arsenal finished off the month by facing Manchester United at home on 23 April. An early goal from Nuno Tavares and a 31st minute penalty conversion by Bukayo Saka gave Arsenal a quick two goal lead before Cristiano Ronaldo put United back in the game in the 34th minute. Granit Xhaka scored in the 70th minute to seal a 3-1 win for Arsenal to end April on a two-match winning streak.