Saturday the 23rd of August sees game number two of the 2025/6 season for the Arsenal and our first home game at the Emirates will be against newly promoted Leeds Utd, at 5.30pm UK time.
Old timey rivals of ours from the 1970s and the 1990s, with a rich historical pedigree, we are sure will be excited to make the journey south in hope of another PL victory as they try to get a foothold in the PL.
Leeds beat Everton in their first game, and were awarded a controversial penalty. They have a strong fan base and their team knows about ball control and had 63% of it against the Toffee’s. Our friends at Statto HQ(at the time of writing) have given the Arsenal a 74.7% chance of winning and Leeds have 9.5%.
Mills.
Well if it isn’t all fun and games this week? We got the horrible news that our new beefed up Havertz was out for the season, and now the word is that he will only be out for a few weeks. If ever “Expect the worst and hope for the best” has worked in our favour, this is it. I think we paid £65m for him to replace Xhaka, but that was horrible, so we moved him to CF when Jesus broke down, and it has to be said, there was some success. It worked better than expected, and he certainly brings something to that position. So even although we have a shiny new CF, it would have been a blow to lose the lad for an extended period.
It would appear that the danger of Havertz having a long team injury , caused us to revive our interest in Eze. Not only revive it, but steal him from right under the chicken’s nose. At 27, he is at his peek, can play from the left or the middle, he’s a very good player and raises the high water mark of the squad. His willingness to run with the ball, shoot on sight and pass with risk in the final third, is something we have been woefully short of. I for one am excited about this signing. Well played Arsenal.
Arteta has been backed once again with an absolute fortune, and to be fair, I think the squad is complete. Of course professional moaners will find something to grumble about, but I think we couldn’t realistically asked for much more. I’m not a big fan of Arteta’s vision of how football should be played, but he’s the boss and the club has given him the opportunity to put his ideas into action, and that’s a good thing. No excuses, as they say.
Unless someone is sold that detracts from the strength of the squad, we’re good to go. Let’s hope this is the year and these are the players to go all the way. I think we have a chance. Our defence is top class and our forward line looks much more dynamic and threatening, my only worry is the midfield, but if Martin plays at his best and Rice can better assimilate to the 8 position, it could be good enough.
Right friends, that’s it for our first edition of the new formula for the blog. Let me know how you feel and give any ideas about how to make it better. As ever, if any of you wish to write an article, either regularly, semi-regularly or as a one off, just raise a hand.
Blackburn George.