If Carlsberg Did Saturdays…

Arsenal's first home game of the season. Always a moment of great anticipation and hope; and this time tinged with extra excitement. From the moment the rumours started circulating that we should get to our seats early, and right up to and beyond the final whistle, it's difficult to imagine that the day could have gone that much better.

On social media, round about lunchtime, I started seeing stuff that indicated that what we were all hoping for - the pre-match introduction of Eze - was going to take place. I messaged everyone I knew would be there to get there early, and told my family that we needed to leave earlier than normal for the game. This was going to be great; a real feelgood start to the home campaign.

We were in by 4.15 - and whilst the concourse wasn't packed there was already plenty of singing - the Gyokeres song being the most prominent. Good to see that there have been a few changes of note on the catering side; Asahi Dry definitely being an upgrade on Camden beer; but I'm not sure how good the Guinness is likely to be if they're switching the pipes on and off every few days... reviews to follow, I'm sure. A new food range too. Good to note that Arsenal are listening to their match-attending supporters.

I had brought my Liverpool-supporting mate, Tim, to the match. I'd promised him an Arsenal experience, and was curious as to his perspective. As a starting point, he appreciated the Asahi Dry. Also my view from the West Lower; but not so much with the atmosphere in general - but that's Arsenal fans for you... 

Nonetheless, by 5.15 the stands were pretty packed and the sense of anticipation was growing. And then there he was - our latest signing. Out of the tunnel to rapturous applause, a huge grin on his face, to chants of 'Arsenal! Arsenal!' and then 'Are you watching, Tottenham?' Much to everyone's pleasure and amusement. And here I'll deviate from discussing the match, because the significance of the signing bears discussion.

I'm sure that you know about Eze's 'previous' with Arsenal. A fan from a young age, and released from Hale End when he was just 13. Which is of course shattering for any young lad; and yet he worked hard to make a career for himself and - via QPR and of course Crystal Palace - has finally realised his dream. And the iconic number 10 shirt to boot.

We'd heard rumours all summer that Arsenal had been looking at him as the type of maverick footballer who could add something into the metronomic mix of Arsenal's general play. But it looked for all the world that he might be off to Tottenham before - if we can believe the story - Havertz's injury and the player's last-minute telephone plea to Mikel Arteta before he signed on the dotted line for our local rivals tipped the balance and caused Arteta and Berta to follow firmly through on their earlier interest. From the speed of the move, it seems clear that a lot of the work on the deal had been done, and perhaps Berta had been more focussed on departures at that point. But the prodigal son - if I can call him that - has returned. And, truth, be told, this was his last opportunity to come back; he is 27, there was no way that Tottenham would have sold him to us and - most important of all - he would have been miserable there, wouldn't he? 

On the subject of Tottenham, the social media meltdown has been a joy to behold. The video channels have been highly enjoyable viewing, as their supporters have vented at Daniel Levy. Not that their fans can be disappointed at the start they've had to their season, of course. 

But now all that remains is for Eze to have a real impact on Arsenal's immediate future. Which - as a result of the shoulder injury suffered by Martin Odegaard in the first half - may be sooner than we thought.

Anyway, to the match; and perhaps a minor surprise with Madueke selected on the left in front of Martinelli and Trossard. Otherwise, the team was much as suspected, but with a frisson of excitement at seeing Max Dowman named on the bench. My wife and I speculated on if/when we may see his introduction, and we settled on 3-0 up and 10 minutes to go... and we weren't that far out, I guess.

Extra fireworks pre-game added to the atmosphere, but the match itself settled into a fairly familiar pattern, for all that Arsenal were moving the ball a little quicker than in recent times, and were also looking for raking diagonals in order to upset Leeds' equilibrium. An early shot from Odegaard and a ball clipped over the top from Rice that almost let Saka in were early decent signs, before Leeds' abject failure to play out from the back led to Gyokeres snatching at a chance that with a little bit of composure would have been a tap-in.

But the best early chance fell to Leeds, with Raya's spectacular save from Struik's header preventing them taking the lead. In truth, from the 15th minute until Arsenal took the lead everything seemed a bit familiar, with the opposition coming into the game a little bit too much for our liking.

But Set Piece FC struck yet again; Rice's perfect whipped 34th-minute corner glanced in by an un-marked Jurrien Timber, to celebrations tinged in no small way with relief. These corner routines are really interesting, with opposing defences being pulled around in all directions due to the unpredictability. And when I say unpredictability, I mean of movement in the box. There's nothing unpredictable about the brilliance and consistency of Rice's delivery.

Odegaard's loss to a shoulder injury was annoying and a little worrying, with so many difficult early matches to negotiate. Ethan Nwaneri was entrusted to take his place, which was good to see; but Eberi Eze is hovering in the background now. In truth, I have been a little concerned about the positions that the Norwegian has been taking up early on this season - he's been dropping too deep for my liking - especially with Rice and Zubimendi now clearly being instructed to work as a double pivot. So let's see how this changes how Arsenal play if he's out for a while.

But by half-time, the lead was 2-0. And the goal was interesting from the perspective of seeing Arsenal lose the ball and then immediately pounce to win it back. Nwaneri lost the ball, Rice immediately won it back, and a combination of Zubimendi and Timber set Saka free to blast the ball home (with his wrong foot!). All of which made the break far more comfortable.

And before many had taken their seats for the second half it was 3-0. It has been noticeable that Arsenal are still getting used to Gyokeres' style of play, and getting themselves used to playing with an out and out centre forward. It was obvious that Arteta had made that point to the team at half-time, as within seconds Calafiori popped an early ball over the top of the Leeds defence into the space in Arsenal's inside left channel, and Gyokeres was on to it. A twisting run past two or three half-hearted attempts to stop him, and he fired the ball in at the near post for his first competitive goal for the Gunners. In truth, this was a trademark Gyokeres goal; highlight videos will reveal him scoring this goal again and again in his past. Anyway; cue probably 40,000 supporters doing the Bane celebration (and yes, I have to admit that I was one of them...). A good day was getting even better.

But every silver lining has a cloud. Moments after the third goal, Bukayo Saka sat down on the turf, and was soon replaced. It's a hamstring - thankfully not the one that cost him three months last season, but still a worry. The good news is that he may only be out for a month (and Arsenal do have some depth in forward areas these days). But that's now Norgaard, Havertz, White, Odegaard and Saka lost just two matches into the season. I wonder if Arteta may have run over a black cat recently... Trossard trotted on to replace Starboy; with Madueke switching to the right hand side.

Moments later... 4-0. Another Rice corner - another Timber goal; which, along with his assist and clean sheet will have made anybody who has him in their Fantasy Football team a very happy man. Again, naivete and confusion in the Leeds ranks, they failed to clear their lines, and Timber bundled the ball home. And relax...

To complete an almost perfect day, Arteta saw fit to introduce Max Dowman as part of a triple change. I had thought he may get a quarter of an hour, but he got double that. And made the most of it. It is clear that if you're good enough, you're old enough, and young Max gave Gudmundsson a hard time from the get go. He looked completely unfazed by the stage he was taking, showed bags of confidence, had two decent efforts on goal amongst all the dribbling and drops of the shoulders, and won the injury time penalty that enabled Gyokeres to double his tally. It is clear that he has a glittering future ahead of him; I remember being excited by what Nwaneri could do no more than a couple of years ago, but this is something else!

What a pleasure, by the way, in this age of daft stuttering penalty run-ups, to see Gyokeres just run up and blast the ball into the corner. That's one penalty out of one, to add to his 27 of 28 for Sporting. It remains to be seen if he has now taken over the role of Arteta's designated penalty taker from Saka; they'll both have to be on the field for us to find out.

And now for a little detour into the twisted mind of Gary Neville. He'd spent most of Arsenal's game at Old Trafford having a dig at Gyokeres, and continued it from that start of this game. He then accused Dowman of diving - way to go; having a go at a 15-year-old! Only both times having to eat his words - in this case a double helping of sh*t soup! We all know that you've got an agenda against Arsenal, Gary, but you'll get a lot more respect from all football fans if you reined it in and showed a little bit of impartiality.

But enough of that. Let's reflect on a quite sublime day (despite the injuries): Asahi Dry. Eze. 5 goals. Set Piece FC. Dowman's debut. Top of the table (irrelevant as that may be at this stage). Can we ask for more?

And so to the first major test of the season. I'd been waiting to publish this post until after Liverpool had played Newcastle; and I'm glad that I had. For although 'Lucky' Arne somehow managed to pull a win out of the ashes of a mixed performance, it must be said that his team is not playing well. They appear to have a number of defensive issues, with Konate in particular looking well off the pace. They may have scored more goals than Arsenal this season - one more; small sample size - but have already conceded 4 in just two matches. Not the form of Champions. And looking especially dodgy against fast breaks (against Bournemouth) and set pieces (against Newcastle).

Arsenal also remain a work in progress, with Rice and Zubimendi still working out how to get the best out of each other. Although the signs are promising. I reiterate again that I'd like to see Odegaard keeping out of their way, and staying closer to the forward line. It remains to be seen how Arteta is going to employ Eze - is he there to play on the left wing, or in the left 8 role that he played at Palace. Because there's a log jam of players for the latter role. Either way, I suspect that he'll bring some jazz hands to the party. Which I cannot wait to see.

As far as next Sunday is concerned, I'd suggest that despite the likely absence of three starters Arsenal match up pretty well against this iteration of Liverpool. Salah has yet to hit his straps, and will have a combination of Calafiori and Gabriel to keep him in check on Sunday. Wirtz is yet to settle. Gravenberch and MacAllister (I presume) are going to have to work hard against Rice and Zubimendi. And behind those two Kerkez will be up against Madueke, who gave him the runaround last season; and a combination of Konate and a makeshift or inexperienced right back is going to have to try to deal with Gyokeres.

Now I'm not saying that Arsenal are going to go to Anfield and win. But...

COYG!

At The End Of The Day...

Arsenal have historically found wins at Old Trafford hard to come by. In fact, before this weekend they had managed just 5 in the preceding 30 years (all, coincidentally, by a 1-0 scoreline), and have often looked overawed by the arena and forgotten to play the team in front of them.

I've personally lost count of the times I've watch Arsenal outplay Manchester United at Old Trafford, yet draw or lose matches they ought to have won at the supposed Theatre of Dreams, and there has also been a(n un)healthy dose of absolute humiliation on more than one occasion.

And make no mistake; whilst Manchester United were terrible last season, they've had a proper pre-season under Amorim (who, you may recall, did not want to join them mid-season last season, as he knew that he was on to a hiding to nothing), have far fewer fitness concerns now, and whilst they still have plenty of 'dead wood' to move on they have bought well in attack, and are entitled to feel optimistic about this season. So this was never going to be easy in the circumstances.

And the key circumstances are this; there have been major changes in two key positions - one in particular - that are going to involve evolving to a different style of play, and this is going to take time. Not necessarily ideal when Arsenal have to play 5 of last year's top 7 teams in their first 7 matches, but they'll just have to crack on with it. And Arteta will have learned a huge amount about what is required from what he saw yesterday! 

I'll crack on with my thoughts on the game itself now. 

White was preferred to Timber, and Calafiori to MLS; two interesting decisions. Personally, whether I'd have made those calls for a difficult away game I'm not sure, and to an extent they fed into some of the problems that Arsenal had during the game. Timber is certainly a more positionally disciplined and solid defender than White, and whilst whoever plays left back has licence to invert, Calafiori is much more of a maverick in that way. As it turned out, Mbuemo had all sorts of room to run into down their right for a good portion of the game, and Cunha had one massive opportunity attacking the 6-yard area at one point (great save by Raya, who I shall come on to). At centre-half, Gabriel and Saliba often found themselves exposed by the nature of United's forwards progressive runs - which were generally from the semi-vacant wide areas into the middle - and both had a pretty torrid time. There is, however, a fairly simple fix to this, which I will discuss later on.

In midfield, Zubimendi took up a lot of really interesting positions and pockets of space, and in general moved the ball more quickly that we have been used to seeing from Partey. However, it is going to take some time for those in front of him to get used to that. 

Alongside him, Declan Rice had an absolute stinker of a game - one of the worst I've seen him have in an Arsenal shirt - and that was never going to help. With Zubi taking up some of the positions he is used to taking, and Calafiori perhaps impinging on the left 8 area as well, he may have felt somewhat lost. 

The third member of the triumvirate, Odegaard, showed glimpses of getting back to his best (especially on a couple of occasions in the first half), but for me was actually guilty of dropping deeper to receive the ball than he needed to, thereby losing his ability to link midfield and attack at times. Like the defensive exposure issue, this can all be fixed.

Further forward, it was also pretty dysfunctional. Saka was well below his normal levels, Martinelli had an absolute shocker of a game, and poor Viktor Gyökeres was often left isolated as his runs were often not seen or ignored. He was also up against an inspired De Ligt, who made him work very hard for everything. But this was just one game; Arteta needs to persevere and ensure that he gets the service he needs.

No amount of pre-season work can drill the requirements of a new system into players who have been used to playing in a certain way (and the Swede had very little of that, frankly), so whilst there was promise in the type of runs that he made plenty of work still needs to be done. Certainly, Arsenal look much more like they knew what they were doing when Havertz replaced Gyökeres in the second half.

All this whilst coming up against a Manchester United who looked completely transformed by their new signings. They have a complete new forward line - former Arsenal target Sesko made a late appearance, but clearly still need at least one new midfielder (what is going on with Mainoo?) and - and this is glaringly obvious - a new goalkeeper.

Fortunately for Arsenal, they got the crucial first goal; as early as the 13th minute. Another Calafiori raid meant the concession of a corner, and we saw a new routine as the players lined up completely differently to what we've been used to seeing - on the edge of the penalty area as opposed to beyond the back post. Rice's delivery was exquisite - right under the bewildered Bayindir's crossbar. Saliba occupied the hapless keeper, he flapped at the ball, and it was probably going in anyway until Calafiori applied the finishing touch from around 6 inches out (gotta love the close up screenshot btw).

A big moment. Because for all that Arsenal were disjointed throughout one thing they can do is defend. Even though Saliba and Gabriel were exposed at times, they are excellent defenders, and what they failed to turn away David Raya dealt with. No less than 7 saves from the Spaniard, of which one was superb and another - down low and right at his feet from a Cunha shot - was absolutely world class. And so, whilst I started to pace up and down in front of my television during the second half, I don't suppose that I ever truly felt that Arsenal would actually concede. They remain defensively strong, but there are ways to prevent some of the jeopardy they suffered repeating itself as the season develops.

So... what can Arteta and his staff do to make the unit more functional? Let's have a look:

Firstly, there need to be strict instructions to the full backs that they cannot both go upfield at the same time. Whilst Zubimendi or Rice can drop back in to fill the vacant spaces, against teams who are prepared to attack or counter-attack them they ought to be taking it in turns so to speak. I recall one moment in the first half when I remarked that White was alongside Saka, and Calafiori was galloping into the left 8 position at the same time. Far too risky; and also perhaps occupying spaces better taken up by other players.

Watching how Liverpool play, they do that on the counter-attack, not in their primary attacking phases, and that's different. Interestingly, we saw some evidence of Manchester City - now with Klopp's former assistant Lijnders assisting Pep - doing some of the same on Saturday evening. And Arteta should learn from that. I understand the desire to dominate opponents, but getting caught with too many defenders upfield is a recipe for disaster.

In midfield, the coaching staff need to work on positional rotation. There was an element of clockwork for Rice and Odegaard when Partey was alongside them, but Zubimendi is different - especially in his desire to move the ball on quickly - and they need to be prepared for that. Rice needs to find fresh spaces to operate, and the skipper needs to stay closer to Saka and Gyökeres.

Further ahead it was something of a disaster. Saka needs to either stay out very wide to stretch the defenders, or to come inside and overload alongside Odegaard - thus perhaps leaving White the room to operate. On the other side, the coaching staff need to find a way to create space for Martinelli to run into. Or take a different route as regards the Brazilian, who is becoming extremely disappointing (Madueke wasn't much better, frankly, when he came on - but did manage to miss a late sitter that would have made the last 5 minutes of the game a lot more zen than they were).

As for our shiny new striker, the key must be to look for him early, and get him to work his defenders. To drag them out of position and for the likes of Saka to exploit the space that is left. He looked lost, frankly, but one game is a very small sample and there is no need to worry at this stage. None at all.

The squad have a full week to work on all this, and then a relatively 'easy' game at home to newly promoted Leeds United. However, we are going to need to see a good deal of improvement - and quickly - because the following week involves a visit to Anfield!!! And here I'm going to chuck in a PGMOL conspiracy theory - may as well start early... The referee for the Leeds game is Liverpool-supporting Jarred Gillett, who on Saturday will have the opportunity to send an Arsenal player or two off, and thus render them unavailable for Anfield. Call me crazy if you like...

I now have a message for those fans who have been moaning about the performance on Sunday. About how Arteta doesn't know what he's doing. About Gyökeres being useless and a waste of money. About how terrible things are in the world of Arsenal. And it's quite simple: big personnel changes, which look to take the team in a new direction, take time. There will be teething problems. 

But... and this is the most important thing... Arsenal left Old Trafford with a clean sheet and all three points. So f*ck Manchester United; and f*ck you - because there's no pleasing some people. That's two more points than Arsenal took from there last season, and things can only, and will only, get better. Get over yourselves, and take some pleasure in the result; for all that the performance left a lot to be desired. 

Yes, it wasn't pretty, but you'll hopefully be looking back in 9 months at the old adage that playing badly but winning is the mark of champions. Of our main rivals, Liverpool looked really vulnerable defensively - especially on the counter-attack - and one match is no sample size whatsoever on which to judge Manchester City (upon whom disciplinary action for their financial misdemeanours must surely fall at some point this season in any case).

So, quite simply, lets remain optimistic... We will see improvement on Saturday; that I can guarantee you.

COYG

It's Prediction Season!

As the 2024/25 season - punctuated by several highs, and many lows - becomes a distant memory, it's time for me (like so many others) to look forward to 2025/26. 

And so, without further ado:

I'm not going to speculate or get too fixated on what other clubs have done over the summer, and how this may affect their progress this season; except to say:

Liverpool - won the league comfortably by jumping into an early clear lead, and never looked like getting caught. Recruitment appears slightly lop-sided, with more focus on attack; both full-backs are better going forward than defending and they do appear light at centre-half. We also cannot know how the tragic loss of Diogo Jota may affect them. Keep your eyes peeled for Florian Wirtz

Manchester City - had a major drop-off last season, yet still finished just three points behind Arsenal. The retirement of KDB should mean a change in style, but they appear to have recruited well in Cherki (especially) and Reijnders. The addition of Ait-Nouri should see Gvardiol back at his optimum position of centre-half. They will certainly be better this season

Chelsea - their Buy Two/Sell One policy continues, and I'm pretty sure that they must be strengthening every season; although it's difficult to see the wood for the trees. Their progress will depend on how quickly Maresca identifies his starters, and how quickly they gel. But they still have ground to make up on the main contenders

The rest - whilst the general quality of the league continues to go up, I can't see any other teams getting close to the main contenders. What appears certain is that former giants Manchester United, and would-be giants Tottenham Hotspur, will be better than they were last season. Although that's not saying much...

But now onto our main focus - the mighty Arsenal:

Recruitment 

So far, this appears excellent! Reading from back to front:

a) Kepa the keeper has filled an important hole. Trustworthy, and will enable Arteta to give Raya strategic breaks. And at £5m a bargain!

b) Mosquera looks to be precisely the right profile of defender to cover multiple right-sided positions, and give Saliba some time off

c) the losses of Partey and Jorginho have been addressed with Norgaard (solid and reliable) and particularly Zubimendi, who has looked world-class in pre-season and who should help evolve Arsenal's playing style (I'll come to that further down)

c) the signing of Noni Madueke caused an initial social media meltdown amongst fans! Tainted with being ex-Chelsea, this saw fans taking an irrational and instant dislike to the move. However, a further examination of the player reveals his skills and metrics to be precisely what the team requires, and even at upwards of £50m this actually look the right price when we see the prices involved in other winger moves this summer. Early signs are promising

d) the key move was always going to be for a centre-forward. I initially expected this to be Sesko (who has now set his career back at least three years by signing for Manchester United), but when negotiations with RB Leipzig became fraught the club soon switched to Viktor Gyokeres. 

Now, Gyokeres may not necessarily have the qualities and silky skills we may want to see in an Arsenal centre-forward, but he is a single-minded beast of a player! What he may not quite have in terms of the very top level, he more than makes up for in other areas. He is quick - both of mind and of foot - he will drive defenders to distraction with his non-stop movement, and he loves to get a shot off! His addition, alongside that of Zubimendi, should see a different look to the way Arsenal attack this season, and I cannot wait to see him in action. No more 'false 9', and wingers crossing into an empty penalty area; as we saw against Bilbao last week.

What the signings of the likes of Zubimendi and Gyokeres clearly indicate is that the hierarchy at the club are in Win Now mode. Now is the time to deliver. And we can expect them to make every effort to do so. 

Sales

Whilst Arsenal have already spent almost £200m in the current window, and now have two 'starters' for every position, I think that we all feel that one more addition would be a welcome luxury. I'd heard a month ago that Eze was pretty much done, but the vibes don't appear anything like as strong now. Talk of Rodrygo appears somewhat fanciful, but that cannot be entirely written off either. What we can all accept is that any further move will be dependent on sales, as nobody has moved on from the first team squad at the time of writing.

And so, whilst we can admire the decisiveness and quality of Andrea Berta's work so far - not just in getting the above signings over the line, but in getting several players to put pen to paper on new contracts - it is now time to see how well he can sell players. And here I'm talking about those who appear to have little or no future at Arsenal; the likes of Hein, Zinchenko, Vieira, Lokonga, Nelson, one or other of Trossard and Martinelli, and perhaps Kivior. £100m+ of incomings, hopefully? 

I cannot see any more incomings until very late in the window now, with sales looking to be the current priority for Berta. But, even if nobody else comes in, Arsenal really ought to have more than enough to push hard on all fronts this season (injuries and lunatic refereeing decisions notwithstanding).

Player Development

Even with all these new additions, and the return to full fitness of those lost to serious injury in the spring (I'm talking Calafiori, Timber, White, Gabriel, Saka and Havertz here), there still appears to be plenty of room for playing time for some seriously talented youngsters. MLS has signed a new contract and already appears to have made the left-back spot his own (but will face stiff competition from Calafiori). Nwaneri has also put pen to paper, and now appears to be the Odegaard alternate as well as being capable of playing anywhere in the forward positions. And then there's Max Dowman...

He's 15 years old - putting that into context, he'll be starting Year 11 and studying for his GCSEs at school next month - and yet from what we have seen of him he makes Nwaneri look almost ordinary! We have had some exceptionally talented youngsters come through the ranks at Arsenal over the years - the likes of Fabregas, Wilshere, and of course Bukayo Saka - but I think that we can be as excited about Max as about any of them. 

In fact, I'd go as far as to say that he can currently be bracketed amongst such teenage superstars as Owen, Rooney, Mbappe, Yamal and (yes, I'm actually going to say it) even Lionel Messi for potential. An absolute gem, but one that needs careful polishing and protecting. We have already seen him make an impact in pre-season - winning two penalties and consistently embarrassing seasoned professionals - but we must temper our enthusiasm because of his age. Saying that, I'd like to see him on the bench on Sunday!

Playing Style

It has clearly become as evident to Mikel Arteta as it has to us that Arsenal's playing style has needed to evolve. Attempts to stifle and dominate opponents have been mainly successful, but we have all known that there has been something missing. The tempo has been largely too slow, and I'm as sick as I'm sure you are with watching umbrella-shaped passing moves in front of massed defences, with little movement (or room to do so) from the forwards. And at the same time leaving the team open to swift breaks. If Arsenal had turned half of last season's draws - many from winning positions - into wins they'd have won the title. 

If you'd have been paying attention to Liverpool's style of play last season, you'd have seen that Slot was prepared to lose possession as a result of the dynamism of his side's play, secure in the knowledge that the class of his players meant that when they turned the ball back over, they'd be able to exploit the space inevitably left by the opposition. More of a counter-attacking style of play than of the stifling football developed by Guardiola and copied by his acolyte Arteta.

It feels to me that Arteta has picked up on that. Arsenal have bought players to augment the qualities of the squad, and so we should see much swifter recycling of the ball from Zubimendi than Partey and Jorginho were ever capable of, and with Gyokeres (and LANS Havertz) up top there will be considerably more movement for the likes of Zubi, Rice and the full-backs to hit. Hopefully, Arsenal should be prepared to lose the ball more often, secure in the abilities of our defenders to do their jobs, in order to create space and opportunity.

Opponents can expect to have far less time to reset now, and I cannot wait to see this develop.The additions are going to enable us to watch the likes of Rice, Odegaaard and Saka become even better players than they already are.

We have already seen evidence of this in pre-season, and connections will continue to grow all over the field. The pressing will look different, and the speed of travel will do too. I am confident that we are going to see a far more exciting Arsenal in 2025/26.

And so to...

Predictions

Now, I am not going to pronounce here that Arsenal are going to win everything this season. That would be bordering on madness! In our own league, the opposition is as stiff as it can possibly get, and in Europe the might of PSG stand in all our ways like a gigantic Eiffel Tower; not forgetting the likes of Barcelona either.

What I would say is that despite all the injuries and other misfortunes of last season Arsenal came perilously close to glory in both major competitions, and that they have certainly taken steps to become even better. So they have never been as well-equipped as they are now since the early 2000s (when the likes of Vieira, Pires, Bergkamp and Henry thrilled us all) to challenge for all the major trophies.

The start to the league campaign is tricky for sure - with trips to Old Trafford, Anfield and St James Park in the first month, as well as a home game with Manchester City - but the Premier League will be fearful of what Arsenal can do. And so they should be!

We should be super-optimistic. The time is now. COYG!