Arsenal fans won’t get carried away with the spectacular performance that was witnessed in their opening Emirates Cup game. They are far too long in the tooth to fall for that one. Context is always important and whilst the Emirates Cup is never really taken too seriously as a marker for the season, Arsenal fans will still be secretly smiling and feeling a real buzz of anticipation following their long awaited FA Cup success which ended 9 long years without silverware.
Arsenal have already spent over £65M in the transfer market and roles with their London rivals Spurs seem to have been reversed when it comes to getting the cheque book out. With a month to go there is rampant speculation that more quality players will be coming to the Emirates.
Alexis Sanchez is the big name signing that has caught everyone’s imagination and without doubt this is one of the most exciting acquisitions to join the Premier League this summer. A quick look at this youtube link will show what an amazing talent Sanchez is.
Last year was an excellent season for Arsenal. Arsene and his team will want to build on that progress by putting in another solid shift this season. As with any team, fans ask the “what ifs” and the loss of Walcott and his lightening pace for the best part of 5 months was a terrible blow that Arsenal never really recovered from. Giroud did not have the support up front and that is all set to change this season, with Walcott back in training and expected to be in contention for the first team before the end of August. With Sanchez, and both Joel Campbell and Sanogo looking like able squad support Arsenal’s attacking options will be one of the strongest in the Premiership. The fact that Arsenal turned down the opportunity to bring back Arsenal legend Fabregas to the Emirates shows clearly that Wenger feels his midfield is already one of the best there is.
I wrote an article this time last year and commented that as 3 of the 4 big four had new managers in situ Arsenal had a unique opportunity to ‘nick’ the Premier League from under the noses of Man City, United and Chelsea. As it turned out Liverpool was the surprise package and will be sure to put in another strong show this year even without the prolific Suarez. With LvG at the helm at United they will be looking to bounce back after their disastrous showing last year and both Man City and Chelsea will be strong contenders as usual. Football pundits generally are putting Chelsea and Man City as eventual winners with third and fourth place coming from Liverpool, United or Arsenal. Every team needs a bit of luck to do well and if Arsenal can get that slice of luck, along with maybe one more big name signing before the close of the transfer window I am going to stick my neck out and say that Arsenal are cracking value at 13/2 with Ladbrokes and Skybet. Either way it promises to be an exciting season for Arsenal fans at the Emirates Stadium.
Source: DSG
