Arsenal star Emile Smith Rowe talks shyness, Status Quo… and his Spurs-supporting dad

All Or Nothing: Arsenal is about to drop – and star Emile Smith Rowe has been opening up about his last year as a footballer and how far he's come.

Smith Rowe is followed early on in the documentary, with manager Mikel Arteta describing the midfielder as "shy" and "uncomfortable". A product of the Gunners' Hale End academy, the No.10 eventually comes out of his shell – and then some – to score against Tottenham in the second episode, which focuses on the North London Derby. 

FourFourTwo went to the Arsenal training ground to speak to the star himself and found out whether he really is shy in real life – and what it's like to grow up with a Spurs-supporting father…

Mikel says in the documentary that when he first met you, he thought you were really shy. Do you agree with that? And did you feel camera shy with a TV crew following you all season?

Yeah, growing up I was always a shy person. I probably do come across as shy, I’m guessing! But I’ve come a long way since then. 

Arsenal have a young squad and a young manager – something that All Or Nothing mentions quite a lot early on. What does that bring in pressure?

I think for me, I try not to think about the pressure. We’ve got a young team, young manager but we thrive off it to be honest. Last season we had a good season – it had a bad ending but at the end of the day, we’re always looking forward and it’s good for us to keep pushing each other. I’m a young player, I have people around me helping me. 

As an academy star, do you have a responsibility to let the new signings know what it means to play for Arsenal?

Maybe. I think I wouldn’t put that into them – all players who come to Arsenal, they should already know what it means to play for Arsenal, [what with] the history of the club, the players that have been here before. I will always try to help everyone when they first come and be as helpful as possible. We’re just a family at the end of the day, we want to help each other and we’re all friends off the pitch.

We see in the show that you grew up with a dad who supported Tottenham…

I think it was mainly when I was younger – now he’s a bit more chilled out, I think I’ve turned him to be fair. Both me and my brothers obviously are Arsenal fans so when we were younger, we’d laugh around about it. When we’d play in the garden, he’d pretend to be Spurs players and we’d be Arsenal players. We’d have to make sure we beat Tottenham. It’s all funny now, to be fair. It wasn’t too awkward [when Arsenal beat Tottenham in September 2021] – my whole family were there and I had four or five friends who were there and two of them are Tottenham fans as well. It is funny but they’re always happy for me, no matter what. They definitely celebrated when I scored – they don’t want to admit it but they did!

What’s it like to have your own chant?

It’s a special feeling. I don’t know, you grow up dreaming to play for Arsenal but you never even think about fans creating a song for you. When we first heard it, we didn’t know it would go viral, it was just funny. We started hearing it everywhere, the lads started playing it in the changing room… and we’ve come through the academy together and come into the first team, it’s been sick.

You’ve exploded in the last year or so – are you pinching yourself that you’re here?

For sure! It’s gone so quick. With the songs and everything, it’s surreal to think of everything I’ve achieved. And at the same time, everything goes so quick, the games come and go so quick and after scoring in one game, you have to focus on the next one. I only noticed in the summer when I was catching up with friends and family and we talked about all the memories I’ve had during the last season, that’s when I really understood what’s happening.

Has anything surprised you about Premier League football?

Just the intensity of the games, it’s very different to the Championship. I’d say the Championship is still very physical, everyone’s still very strong and though but the intensity that everyone plays at in the Premier League is just so difficult. Man City and Liverpool are the hardest games I’ve ever played. Kyle Walker: you can’t get past him and then Trent [Alexander-Arnold], as well, when he’s running down the other end, crossing it in. He’s tough. And the atmospheres at stadiums, Anfield was crazy, it was so loud, I couldn’t hear myself speak.

We can really see a family atmosphere at Arsenal in All Or Nothing – what do you do as a team for fun?

I think a lot has changed recently! With the new players coming in, there’s a language barrier for some players so we had a preseason rule that everyone has to speak English around the dinner table. That just made it easier communicating with each other. Every meal, there’s a wheel that picks the table for who you sit with. We did a whole games thing in Germany – it’s good to get to know each other off the pitch and get closer.

In the Tottenham documentary, Mourinho spoke to players in his office. Does Arteta invite you in or do you speak to him more on the training ground?

I’m not too sure. I remember seeing the Tottenham one but maybe Mikel communicates better on the pitch. All the players would say that I think, he does his talking on the pitch. But in terms of his door being open, all the players can go and speak to him. He’s always open to speaking to us and he just wants to help us as much as possible. We can speak to him whenever we want.

You’ve played in plenty of positions. Where are you best? And where can we expect to see you this season?

I think you’ve just got to adapt. I don’t think I have a preferred position. We all train in different positions, I’ll train as a false nine, left-wing or midfield. But Mikel is so good, he gives us all the information to help us improve which is good. I’m not too sure where I’m best.

It must feel surreal to go from Hale End to the first team with other players you’ve grown up with…

It’s one thing doing it by yourself but when you’re doing it with team-mates it means so much more. Being on the pitch with them, it’s hard to explain, really. After the games, we’ll talk about it, laugh about it but it’s something you dream about, being with your friends and going all the way through. Coming from Hale End, it’s mad, you see all the players on the wall – Jack Wilshere, Alex Iwobi – you see them and then you do it yourself, it’s crazy.

More on Arsenal's All Or Nothing: Arsenal documentary

Arsenal's All Or Nothing series drops on August 4 – and we already know some of the details about the show.

In preparation for the release of the documentary, FourFourTwo went along to the Gunners' training ground to speak to some of the stars at the centre of it all. Cedric Soares spoke about what the season was like as an older head in the group and what his perspective of the last year or so has been.

On top of that, Martin Odegaard has been speaking about his role as a leader in the side and how All Or Nothing: Arsenal will show unprecedented access into the players' lives.