I’m afraid the new blogging season is off to an inauspicious start, with our mercurial maestro, Stew Black, out with a slight niggle. So rather than Stew’s beautiful prose you are stuck with my wit and repartee.
I have no idea what sort of an atmosphere will be generated for a Friday night opener, but surely, free from any negative hangovers, it should be good?
The notable absentees are of course Santi – goodness knows when we will see him again – Laurent Koscielny (suspended for 2 more games) and Sanchez (tummy niggle). I’m led to believe that Per trained yesterday, so I expect he will come in for Laurent, partnered by Holding and Monreal.
It appears that Hector is going to be first choice as right wingback so that leaves Arsene to decide between AOC and our new tank, Sead Kolasinac. I believe he will go with Sead.
In midfield it will be Xhaka and ElNeny. Rambo was the standout player in pre-season but has had a slight calf strain, and although he too trained yesterday, I think Arsene will be ultra careful with him.
And now to the front three. Well your guess is as good as mine. It could be any number of combinations. Perhaps Ozil behind Giroud and Lacazette? Or Ozil and Iwobi/Welbeck behind Giroud/Lacazette? Or….. well AOC could feature too…….oh God, I give up.
Anyway, its Arsene’s problem and he is the best placed to choose. Whoever it is, I can’t wait to sit down and soak it in. I’m hugely looking forward the the new season, and although I hope Arsenal can win the league I will savour every game regardless of previous results of ours or our competitors.
Oh, we are playing Leicester City, and lest we forget, they were champions the season before last, so any thoughts of a cakewalk should be banished right now.
I look forward to seeing you all in the comments section regularly throughout the season. Please make the effort, because without you, the blog is nothing. Well, almost nothing, there’s still me in my splendour, but you know what I mean.
Andy will be here tomorrow so its back to the comfort zone.
CARMON ARSENAL CARMON (we miss you Frank).
Positively Arsenal 
And our good friend Dean is the Ref. I expect falling over disease in a small box near our goal.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thanks George, here’s to a great season, and grounded positivity. Personally I feel optimistic about tonight, and am ignoring the opening day stats from the last few seasons.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Morning George, at last we are here, finally, the ball at our feet, the trophies tantalisingly within our grasp. As good a squad of players as Arsenal football club has EVER had on its books. What is not to SAVOUR ?
LikeLiked by 3 people
Good morning everyone and a happy new season to you all!
Such an interesting two years ahead of us with a World Cup (assuming no World War in the meantime) the filling in between Arsene’s final two seasons.
As ever, I’m convinced we have a great chance to win ‘things’ this season but with the ‘kids’ set to take care of Europe, I’m especially confident of our chances to win the League, yes sirree!
With possibly our best transfer window since the one that brought in Bergkamp, (or was it Patrick, or Thierry?) the absence of debilitating departures is every bit as significant as the talent brought in, and means our summer can only be considered a successful one.
Winning the League will also count as a successful season and the foundations Wenger continues to construct will of themselves cast a welcome question mark of doubt over his supposed retirement in 2019.
And by 2019 tonight, I fully expect us to be one-nil up and on our way to our first win of the season!
Enjoy the next two years my friends, they are set to be outstanding ones.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Happy New Season greetings all around.
Whoever wears the gorgeous red and white tonight… here’s to them giving their best to secure the full 3 points and sitting pretty in pole position going into the weekend. Cheers PG ringing the bell, cheers PA’ers for setting the benchmark of fan support.
COYG!
LikeLiked by 4 people
New season, new aspirations, new signings (looking at you Arsene), I say bring it on. I have a good feeling borne of no quantifiable data and I reckon we could do some kind of double from the remaining four tropheis available to us. In the meantime, there is the matter of Leicester city to take care of. The fans here are buzzing but they aren’t too confident of coming away with much from London. I’m not fooled though and I know the Leicester players will be doing everything they can to make the game as difficult as possible for us.
Thanks PG and co for keeping this place running. We will keep supporting the team and manager particularly when results aren’t going so well because this is our only duty and we dare not fail at it.
I was looking at the squad photos posted earlier and my goodness, there is such talent and potential oozing from every department. Arsene, you sly fox!
COYG!!!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Morning all and as always the sun has come up on a new season and is shinning warming antiscipation on supporters from all clubs (apart from the black cloud lot we have in our section). Yeah I cant wait for tonight but also realise leicester will sit deep lauch the ball over the top for vardy to chase to get their chances from breakaways or deadball situations.
Opening day fixtures are never easy and I expect this one to be tight with the three points being the priority letting the performances build as squad gets fitter physically and slicker footbally (is that a word I suspect not). Holding and Nacho will have to cover behind the BFG tonight nd the wing backs remember their responsabillity to get back if we lose the ball high up the pitch.
I think Alex Iwobi will start either in place of Danny or Mezut and as for Aaron he tends to be such an influential player, especially in tight games he may well be risked from the start. In tight games you need midfielders who will score goals and Aaron ticks that box.
Happy watching to all tonight, scream loudly and proudly we’re back COYG
LikeLiked by 5 people
don’t know why any Arsenal fan is excited about the season ahead, have they not read the predictions by the expert journos of the Mirror. Nine experts, who inform the masses what to think about on all things football. Out of the nine just one believes Arsenal will finish in the top 4, in fact he says 3rd is our lot. So the other 8 all say Arsenal will not make top 4, sadly they did not say where AFC will finish, other than not in the relegation places, well thank God for small mercies.
By the way one of the experts predicts Spurs will win the league.
LikeLiked by 3 people
oh no another expert’s view on Arsenal and it just confirms and reinforces the views of the Mirror journos. The season is over I tell ye, we are doomed, doomed I tell ya.
here is what football expert Paul Merson has to say about Arsenal
“Arsenal playing well & winning the community shield was the worst possible result for them. They had 5 first team players missing, worst possible result. They will struggle for 4th if Alexis stays but I see them 6th. We won’t see Alexis in Arsenal shirt again. I think Barcelona will want to sign him. If I was Liverpool I’d buy him”
LikeLike
All predictions of the future rely on crystal balls?
LikeLike
Carmon Arsenal. I am with AndrewNic. This is as good a squad as we have in years. Forward line and defense significantly improved over last year. I would have liked a quality addition in midfield and there is still time to August 31st but I am absolutely against buying for buying sake. Hopefully the year on year improvements in Iwobi, Xhaka, ElNeny and the Ox can make the difference. I will be watching today’s game with very keen interest.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Liverpool owners Fenway Sports put out a statement this morning that no bids for Coutinho would be considered and that he would be a liverpool player after the transfer window shuts.
Coutinho has responded by putting in a written transfer request.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Coutinho now unavailable for lfc first game of the season due to a back injury.
LikeLiked by 2 people
COYG
LikeLiked by 3 people
on tonight’s team selection, re injury doubts, little preseason etc, Wenger has said that he could risk one, but not two players, so out of Per, Rambo and Ozil, we may only see one of them started.
LikeLike
Afternoon George,afternoon everyone. I’ll be watching the game from southern Spain tonight possibly with a local supporters club I infiltrated on Sunday for the charity shield,from what I gather-most of em are on the same side as the manager,you’re always (apart from on here) gonna get a couple of malcontents though.good old Malcolm’s.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Happy New season all. In order to fully enjoy wengerball I have avoided all football related news since Christmas, printed or digital. It saved my love for the game me thinks. It was nice to be able to enjoy simple games of eleven against eleven again. Unless you play against chelski of course 🙂 Again, wish you all a most enjoyable season ahead.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Top work George. I can’t see past a red card for Kolasinac this evening knowing Dean as I do. Apart from that I keep wondering how excited everyone would be had Lacazette moved to anyone but us.
LikeLiked by 3 people
edu, what is happening at liverpool is the hypocracy of football clubs. while liverpool cannot understand why southampton refuse to sell van dijk to them they want barca to back out of coutinho’s bid. southampton have said several times that van dijk is not for sale but liverool kept tapping up the player and influence the guy to put in transfer request a few days ago. since they refused to suarez to join arsenal despite triggering his buyout clause and rather prefered to sell him to barca, they have become a fishing pond to barca.
LikeLiked by 2 people
For those of you who wonder what I find in the spam bin when I put my head under the lid I particularly enjoyed this one;
“Looking forward to the results of the worst decision this club has made in a generation.
Well, it’s what you wanted so don’t cry about it when the entire stadium turns on him this season…”
Shall I pass the rope or the razor blade !?
LikeLiked by 4 people
How long before one of the AFTV pundits get invited onto the mainstream channels for their views each week, sitting next to the experts? It would be the “peoples fan thought”. Why they represent a) Arsenal b) the people is beyond me, as they dont. They represent themselves and their own psychological agendas, and not more than that.
I heard somewhere that YT are going to stop many channels that sneak through the channel etiquette, and render them only viewable by subscriber.
LikeLike
anicol 6.20, its clear that the view expressed is the actual “wish and hopes” of that sort of individual
alvy we already have the redtops and other publications printing articles from big twitter accounts. AFTV have been on sky or bt already, and I’m sure they were on BBC too.
LikeLiked by 2 people
the thing that always makes me smile is the way the media report/act when situations arise at other clubs similar to those that arise at Arsenal, the contrast is enormous, the odd thing is that so many gooners deny that we are treated differently, despite all the evidence.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Sadly too true Ed, but what I meant was more was a proper sit down role week in week out on MOTD etc. I wondered if they were being interviewed last year all in the name of numbers ( f course what else keeps the world clicking?).
Thinking about it Im sure if they were contracted, people would soon lose interest in them(?)
Of course AFC can get rid of them pretty quickly, just by winning everything, and then in style! Of course winning would soon become boring after about three seasons, then they would look back on the good ‘ol days of banners,planes and moans.
Its odd though how negative many people are around the club.Its sort of like some online therapy where they can take a psychological dump. Im glad George+Andy keep this garden clear of the poopers!
LikeLiked by 2 people
LikeLiked by 2 people
Cech is the captain tonight.
LikeLike
alvy Arsenal should rescind their tickets, I really don’t know why they don’t.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ed-perhaps they are worried that it would inflame things too much? Can you imagine how bitter those people would be?
LikeLike
Schmeichel, Simpson, Morgan (c), Maguire, Fuchs, Mahrez, Ndidi, James, Albrighton, Okazaki, Vardy.
LikeLike
alvy they are already overly bitter, and if they don’t have tickets then they won’t be outside the ground filming their bile.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thats a good point Ed. Makes you wonder why the club dont do it?
LikeLiked by 1 person
LikeLike
Excitement building, expectations at a peak, it’s just so good being a fan who knows he is going to be entertained, and will, at the finish of the game, be as big a Gooner supporter as at the start, win or lose.
LikeLiked by 3 people
our six outfield subs tonight played in most of our games last season.
LikeLike
Up the Arsenal!!
Come on let’s do this!
LikeLiked by 2 people
av fackin that!!!!
LikeLike
Lacazetteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
2 minutes in, and the new man makes it 1-0 to the Arsenal, Elneny with the cross in and a powerful header from a standing position flies into the net.
LikeLike
fucks sake, cech gets lost on the cross and its 1-1 after 4 minutes, hint of offside
LikeLike
28 minutes gone vardy makes it 2-1 to lcfc
ball given away needlessly, cech all over the place on the cross again and vardy puts it in the empty net again,
LikeLike
clear handball not given, defender had his hand up at face height as kolasinac attempted cross hits it but dean of course does not give it
LikeLike
HT: Arsenal 2-2 Leicester City
Lacazette gave us a 2nd minute lead, but 2 minutes later awful defending seen it 1-1, and more poor defending seen lcfc take the lead.
Welbeck with a very late leveller, looked like SK was offside in the build up, but he rolled the ball to danny to fire into the empty net.
we have been shaky in defense, and the tempo in midfield and attack has been too slow. Lacazette our best player so far.
I’d take off Bellerin and bring on Mustafi, put SK lwb and ox to rwb.
LikeLike
Well that was interesting….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Danny Welbeck had been a very mixed bag, causing lcfc lots of trouble, but not causing kasper any, till he had the simple task of rolling the ball into the empty net, Lacazette had rolled the defender and fallen, the ball fell to Kolasinac who looked offside, and he squared it to dat guy to make it 2-2.
we have to sort out our defense for the second half, as I said above, I’d take off Bellerin and switch Ox to the right, hector has not been forceful enough when attacking and we could do with Mustafi at CB.
LikeLike
Hi everyone
A bit shaky at the back at the moment. Wing backs need to get back more quickly then we will eliminate their threat. I think this game needs Iwobi.
LikeLike
Pretty exciting game, hoping we can kill it off in the second though.
LikeLike
see replays of danny’s goal, sk was not offside
10 shots for afc in the first half.
LikeLike
Bloody good comeback but this half proves goals changes and we need to convert ours when we get them. Leicester had only 3/4 good chances and scored 2. We had 5/6 and scored 2.
LikeLiked by 1 person
don’t think Marhez wants to see Kolasinac anywhere near him.
LikeLike
arsenal 10 shots, LCFC only the 4
LikeLike
lcfc players don’t half like throwing themselves to the ground
LikeLiked by 1 person