Arsenal-West Brom Preview, New Signing?

Well here it is, the start of another season, finally. It seems like it's been ages since the last one, but probably just because everyone's been bitching and moaning all summer about how Wenger can't manage a team. Even with the Euros this summer seemed ridiculously long. But tomorrow that's all over because the Premiership starts, and we've got West Brom up first. Newly promoted West Brom I might add...at home...where we've only ever lost once...should be three points right? Well you would think so but it's not a given by any means. You could tell from the match against FC Twente that we weren't at top Arsenal form but that will come with games and the same team being able to go out there.

The injury list for the game sees Senderos, Fabregas, and Diaby missing the match tomorrow as well as the long-term injuries Rosicky, Eduardo, and Bischoff. Alex Song is at the Olympics so he won't be making it either. Arsene Wenger says Kolo Toure is not 100% but he will be rushed back for this match. Let's just hope it doesn't lead to a long term injury. Samir Nasri could also make his Arsenal debut so that would be fun to see.

So the lineup will pretty much set itself:

Almunia
Sagna-Toure-Gallas-Clichy
Eboue-Denilson-Ramsey-Walcott
RvP-Adebayor

Yeah I know that's the exact same lineup as we had against Twente except for Toure but I think that's what he'll go with. If Nasri is even a little bit injured I don't think Arsene would start him. It could be Djourou in place of Toure depending on how bad he is feeling tomorrow but if he was hurting badly Arsene wouldn't play him.

West Brom are an interesting prospect. They have a good manager in Tony Mowbray but a squad which just isn't that good. Better than Derby last year? Probably yes, but not a team that should beat Arsenal at home.

I think this is a game that Denilson and Ramsey should be able to handle in midfield. If this was against Man U, Chelsea, or even a team like Villa, I might be a bit worried about them starting the season in midfield, but this is a good test for them. They didn't exactly run the game against Twente so they'll have to step up their play, but they are two that have the ability to run a midfield game with their balanced play. They both can do a lot of things for the team and I think the strikers we do have will help them a lot.

It'll be interesting to see the Kolo-Gallas partnership again. I don't think anyone, including myself, was convinced of that pair in the center of defense last year, so we'll have to see if it has gotten any better. The main problem for them last year was long balls yet again so we'll need to improve on those if we want to go anywhere in the competitions.

Theo Walcott needs much improvement over the game on Wednesday, but I won't really fault him for that because it was the first match of the season. I do worry though that he'll always be a "super-sub" player and not a starter because he definitely seems to have more of an impact coming off the bench.

Match Prediction for me is going to be 2-0 to Arsenal. I think Adebayor will score both of them and I think Almunia will have a fairly easy game. Let's hope so.

So people have been really worried about our midfield or lack-there-of and there is some good news for you straight out of the mouth of Arsene Wenger. We will have a new signing before the return leg of FC Twente. Obviously we're all expecting it to be a midfielder but how funny would it be if it wasn't even a midfielder but it was a striker or something? People would REALLY lose it then. But seriously, it'll be a midfielder.

That's about all I've got. Nastia Liukin won the women's all-around at the olympics last night, and Shawn Johnson got the silver. It was awesome. And yeah, I really did say women's gymnastics was awesome. And Michael Phelps is up to a ridiculous six gold medals. And those Chinese gymnasts were certainly not 16...


But anyways, enjoy the match tomorrow, and let's start the season with three points!

Denilson Should Start In Midfield

Morning all. I'm taking a break from watching the Olympics because they are showing rowing right now. Is that even a sport? Rowing. Some of these sports are just awful...beach volleyball, handball, synchronized diving/swimming, fencing...I love the Olympics but some things just should not have medals given for them.

So what happened over the weekend? Well we won the Amsterdam Cup, so that was good. I've honestly only seen highlights and read match reports so I can't go into detail over the performances, but I can tell a few things. Both of Ajax's goals were bloody outstanding. I know we should have closed down better but how can you stop shots like those two? Adebayor looked fantastic in his two goals and with his assist. He's going to be great again this year and everyone will forget what a wanker he was during this summer. In the second match we got a draw with Sevilla with Carlos Vela on the score sheet for Arsenal. He's looked good every time I've seen him this preseason and I'm looking forward to seeing him get into some real games.

So those are our last preseason games for the first teamers, as we start Champions League football on Wednesday and the Premiership on Saturday. Isn't that exciting? We pretty much know what we have to work with for this week's matches because I think even if we made a new signing they probably wouldn't be ready to play right away. Besides, Arsene Wenger says he is much too busy to sign a midfielder. So who's starting then? If you're Arsene Wenger to you try to go full strength on Wednesday and on Saturday? And what is the full strength lineup anyway? If I had to pick a lineup Wednesday I think I try to leave Cesc out until Saturday. Mine would look like this:

Almunia
Sagna-Toure-Gallas-Clichy
Walcott-Denilson-Ramsey-Nasri
Adebayor-Vela

I can explain leaving out Cesc and RvP, so don't bite my head off just yet. Cesc has been in training the least out of anyone that is healthy, as he came back just over a week ago. I think we should (should) be a far superior team to FC Twente and should wait to have Cesc ready to go for Saturday. Ramsey has looked capable next to Denilson and I don't see why that partnership couldn't make it through the away leg of this tie with a good result. A scoring draw or a win almost certainly sees us through to the group stages. RvP I think could be another player who could wait until Saturday and wouldn't cause us too much trouble. I'd rather have him fit for the league opener than risk him against a team we should be able to beat without him. Vela has looked very capable as well as Bendtner and I think either of them with Adebayor should be more than enough to score a goal or two.

But now it's getting a bit late in the transfer window and it hasn't looked like we're bringing in a new partner for Cesc, so if not, then who's it going to be? Has Denilson won himself the job with Diaby being out injured (as always)? I know not a lot of people have faith in him to do the job but he's looked good so far and maybe it's his time to shine. I really thought Diaby would be the guy but he just can't stay healthy and we can't rely on any more of those type of players. I'm not sure what will happen but if we don't sign anyone else, Denilson gets my vote.

Piers Morgan actually writes an article about how much he hates Alex Ferguson, and I actually kind of liked it. I didn't even know he was a Gooner.

I don't really know what else to write, I'm just looking forward to the matches this week. Almost time for the start of the season so you better sign up for the Fantasy Football League now. Go USA in the Olympics and I'll see you all tomorrow. Cheers.