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Looking over at other clubs’ gardens

Suburban Gooners Logo Suburban Gooners Logo Ok, I just want the season up and running now, as I’m becoming a bit impatient and I’m needing to not have the ‘feelings’ that I’ve got.

Those ‘feelings’ are the ones that are irrational and based on the fact that because nobody has really kicked a ball in anger yet, every other team has strengthened in the market, will be 100% better than they were last season, everyone is going to fight for the title and we have the possibility of having our season tank.

I think those irrational feelings are because of our hard start, but also because sometimes as a fan you look over the fence at ‘rivals’ and think that everything they have done will click, whereas everything you do possibly won’t.

Kepa will have his tiny chocolate arms once again, having got rid of them from his early years at Chelsea.

Mosquera will end up being a little like Bambi-on Ice, despite the fact there’s no evidence of that so far.

Norgaard might not end up being better than Jorginho.

Zubimendi might not settle in to Premier League football.

We’ll find out that there was a reason Chelsea let Madueke go.

Gyokeres will struggle against low blocks and miss sitters against the big boys.

I know, I know, it’s stupid, irrational and in reality, a little bit disingenuous to the coaching staff, Mikel Arteta and also the transfer team that have spent a lot of time scoping and sussing out each of these players. But I can’t help have these irrational feelings and I think it is because we haven’t played any proper football yet. This summer has seen a hotch potch of XIs playing right up until we smashed Bilbao, which is when it looked like we were the Arsenal you’d expect, but it being a team I think might not reach the heights they did last season (Bilbao) has made me put caveats in front of that performance and win.

And then, as irrational as this is as well, Man United are suddenly going to be this team from 20 years ago that will be competing for the title. We talked about them towards the end of last night’s Same Old Arsenal podcast and James talked about how he would swap the signings up top that United have made for ours. I can kind of get where he’s coming from (Cunha and Sesko for Madueke and Gyokeres, anyone?) and it’s those attacking signings that make you think that they will be brilliant against us on Sunday. They might be. But let’s not poretend that all of their demons have gone away. I will talk on that game a little more in the coming days as we lead up to it and preview it, but as I said last night, ideally you want to be playing United about five or six games in. You’ll have a better idea of what team it is, for sure, but also there won’t be as much fever pitch excitement from the home crowd as there will be ahead of this match.

Again, I’m projecting in my mind a United side vastly superior to the one last season, whereas the truth may be quite different.

And that goes the same for the predictions we made, that journalists made, that ex-players are making about this season. I watched last summer as a lot of journalists were split between us and Man City (check out this as an example). This season?

All Liverpool, some City. Check this list out as an example

I can see why. They won the league last season. They’ve bought what looks like some exciting players in to the club. They look very strong going forward. But I watched the Community Shield and I really hope they are like that defensively, because that will give plenty of opportunities for opponents to get at them. And if they suffer at least ‘some’ injuries, unlike last season, then I think they’ll be pulled closer to the rest of the league compared to last season. There is an AFCON which means no Salah, they’ll be reliant on VVD being as good and bucking any kind of age curve and my hope is that much like last season where many couldn’t look beyond us, this season teams sleep on us and we can go about our business of trying to win the league as underdogs.

That label suits me fine.

But you can’t really afford to lose many matches and that’s why this hard start feels like it’s doubled down on the pressure, because a slip up against Man United and there will already be people signalling the death-knell on our season. We know that will be nonsense, but if you can only lose three or maybe four games a season, notching an ‘L’ on the first one really does put you on the back foot not just statistically, but also from a morale and mental point of view for the players.

That’s why I’m extra apprehensive ahead of the start of the new season. We need to hit the ground running and do it straight away.

Conversely, if we get through those first six games with circa 15 points, we’ll be in a superb position to take on a potential league challenge. After six games we’ll have chalked off Old Trafford, Anfield and St James’ Park and we’ll have played City at home too. If you’ve got anywhere around the 15 points mark by that time, things are looking a lot more rosier.

But for now the apprehension remains and until those first 15 – 20 minutes at Old Trafford play out, I am nervous about what sort of Arsenal team we’re going to get this season.

Hopefully the one capable of 89 points like two season’s ago.

Catch you all tomorrow.

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Gooner born in 1982 from Harlow, Essex, now living in Uxbridge. I say what I see - frequently wrong, but hey, it's just an opinion piece, right? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.