After all the transfers, training and pre-season travails, Arsenal’s Premier League season begins in earnest on Friday with a tricky trip to London rivals Crystal Palace.
It’s been a pretty successful pre-season for Mikel Arteta’s men this time around and expectations are high that the Gunners can hit the ground running at Selhurst Park but nothing – and I mean nothing – can be taken for granted in football.
Palace are where the wheels of our Champions League push started to fall off last season and Patrick Vieira’s Eagles, although inconsistent, have shown themselves to be combative and competitive on their day. Add into the mix a Friday night under the floodlights and there will be plenty for Arsenal to deal with.
A young and ambitious side, Palace will be looking to set the tone on their own campaign in front of a boisterous home crowd and there’s no doubting the neutral fan will very much be against us from the outset – just as it was 12 months ago when we came unstuck at Brentford.
That said, this is an altogether different Arsenal side – a year older, a year wiser and, hopefully, itching to make a statement about their intentions in the league this year and exact some small measure of revenge in the process.
In terms of personnel, I would fully expect to see the same XI that started against Sevilla last Saturday take to the field again from the outset tomorrow. That side looked in excellent shape – albeit against a woefully under-par Sevilla – and has performed superbly throughout the pre-season.
Bolstered by the likes of Saliba, Zinchenko and Jesus – this Arsenal side has moved up a level in quality since last year and I would hope to see that, as a minimum, in the level of performance on the pitch. There can be no repeat of the opening 30 minutes last season in which we were steamrollered out of contention.
Speaking the media ahead of the match, Arteta said:
“[Crystal Palace] showed last season how tough they are and how difficult they are to beat and how consistent they were at home as well, especially against the big teams they got some great results. They had that result against us and hopefully, we learnt a lot of lessons that day, especially the 30 minutes we had where we were nowhere near the standards that we needed and we paid the price for it.”
There was also a sliver of good news for Arsenal on the injury front, with Tomiyasu, Tierney and Smith Rowe all in contention for squad places for the trip to Selhurst Park. In all likelihood, we won’t see any of them climb off the bench unless in dire need but having them on the cusp of a comeback ahead of what will be a long, disjointed, and tiring season can only be good news.
I’ve learned time and again over the years I’ve been blogging that it’s always the hope that kills you but, I have to say, I’m looking forward to this one. Arsenal and Arteta have given themselves the best of chances to start the season in the right way and I can see no reason why they shouldn’t.
I won’t be so bold as to make a prediction but I will say that Arsenal might just surprise a few people.
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