This weekend sees that most magical of times come back into our lives once again, no it’s not the start of X-Factor or another reality TV show, but the start of the Premier league. Normally I spend every summer thinking this is our year, this is the year that we win back the league title, conquer Europe and win the domestic cups, but with Arsenal starting the season at 5:30pm this Saturday at the scene of perhaps the most disappointing second half performance I have ever had being a Gooner, the impending season start fills me with one thing.....DREAD

The point of collapse?

The game at St James’ Park in February seemed to show that the performances in the weeks running up to this game was maybe not quite as good as we would have thought at the time. Before this game the last time we had lost any game was away to Man Utd in December. Between the Man Utd game and the Newcastle game we won 6 leagues games including Chelsea, but we also drew with Wigan and even Leeds in the F.A. Cup, so maybe the signs should have been there?

Since that game Arsenal have been on what can only be described as a atrocious run of results, with perhaps the only highlights being beating Barcelona, Man Utd, Blackpool, Wolves, Stoke and the mighty Leyton Orient....in fact they are the only games we have won since the Newcastle game, even if we add in the pre season games against the Malaysia XI and FC Cologne, that means we have won 8 games since the game at Newcastle. That’s 8 out of 25 games we managed to win, compared to winning 30 out of 44 games before this.

The Fix

So what have we done to correct these issues, have we signed a top quality centre back, bought an enforcer for midfield or that elusive ‘fox in the box’ we have been crying out for, in short, we have done nothing! A key thing for the club right now is that we still have Fabregas and Nasri.  There’s no denying that with these two in the squad it not only gives the team more options going forward, but gives the other team two big problems that they have to deal with.  But that alone doesn’t fix the problem in itself. We have Udinese just 3 days after the Newcastle game and no doubt Arsene Wenger will have to keep one or two players fresh for this game, but can he? Nasri, Van Persie and Wenger are banned for the first leg with Udinese after the farcical refereeing at the Nou Camp last season, so naturally you would assume that these two would be starting at Newcastle, but Van Persie took a nasty kick against Benfica and Nasri never even travelled, with the reason here being anything from him arguing with the manager to another injury (all depending on who you listen to).

So far there have been 3 new signings at the Emirates. If I had been told on the final day of last season, that with just a few days to go before the start of the new campaign that we would have 3 new signings, I would be full of optimism, if someone had told me it would be 2 wingers and a right back I would probably have looked at them with the same confusion that Bendtner must have when people question him as to whether he is as good as he says. I do however believe that all the players brought in improve the squad and have the potential to be big names in the future, but I can only really see Gervinhio making a huge impact this year. Fingers crossed that those with the power and more importantly the cheque book still have one or two signings hidden away to tease us, or it could be another long season for Gooners.

The Team

Looking at the players we have available for this Saturday, it is clear that the squad is being stretched thin.  In a worst case scenario we could be missing Vermaelen, Gibbs, Van Persie, Wilshere, Walcott, Diaby, and Fabregas, not to mention there has been no real talk or confirmation as to Nasri or Koscielny, and if we are to believe Bendtner that he has agreed a deal somewhere else I can’t believe he would play and risk being injured. Let’s imagine that all these players are unable to play this weekend. How good a team would we actually be able to put out? Something like the team below?

Szczesny; Traore, Djorou, Squillaci, Sagna; Rosicky, Song, Ramsey; Gervinho, Сhamakh, Arshavin

With the possible injury of Van Persie and departure of Bendtner, the striker role is a real worry for us with the Udinese game coming so close after the evening kick off game on Saturday. Is Chamakh fit enough to play the whole game against Newcastle then start against Udinese, is Vela good enough to play a part in either match? Is Afobe ready to be thrown into the deep end and relied on to save our season before it has started? My hope is that we are a couple of goals up with about half an hour to go against Newcastle so that Chamakh can be brought off for a rest, if were drawing or god forbid losing I feel that a full 90 minutes will really damage our champions league qualification

The first thing that came to mind when I saw this team was oh actually it’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be. But it is, Squillaci has been on the field for nearly all the goals conceded in pre season which I think is more than a small coincidence. Traore has just come back from Juventus where he didn’t play a great deal.

With the signing of the exciting Alex Oxdale-Chamberlain, Arsene has continued a recent trend of buying young British players with potential. In the last couple of years he has brought in Walcott and Ramsey, add in players coming through our system such as Wilshire and Frimpong and we suddenly have an all British midfield. Add in Jenkinson, Afobe and Gibbs and suddenly we have a team that’s not only almost fully British, but also very young.

Is it a lost cause?

The key thing here is although I feel or rather I hope that this is a strong enough team to beat Newcastle, I do feel that Wenger has not only started to play mind games with other managers, but now with the fans of Arsenal. He hinted at a ‘summer of change’ when the season finished, when in China he stated the defence was ok but conceded to many goals from set pieces. The only thing I have witnessed that is different so far in pre season is zonal marking which we have all seen under Benitez at Liverpool has mixed results. Yes there is time to bring new faces in before the season starts let alone the end of the month, but this does take time and then the players will take time to adjust to the club and unless Wenger does the unbelievable and buys a Cahill, Jagielka, Samba etc they will take time to adapt to the league.

Season as a whole

The pattern for the last few season has been that we play really good football up until about December or January then the season slowly falls apart, unlike the years of Thierry and Vieira where we started off quite poor then played catch up with the rest.  My view on this season that the most likely chance we have to win the league will be the catch up method rather than leading and being caught. I can’t remember having quite as tough first month to the league as this season, especially with the Udinese games, but if we can get past August with at least 5 points, then September should be an easier month with no disrespect to Swansea, Blackburn and Bolton.

Predictions

Many see this as a make or break season for Arsene and the club. Fans want to see the progress in youth players turning into superstars as Wilshere, but now we want, or rather need to see this progress as the first (of many I hope) trophies being brought back to the Emirates. The league has gone from a two horse race, to a four horse race, to now a five or even six horse race.

Based on the current squad as it stands with just the three summer signings so far it’s hard to see this new season being any different to the last six seasons. The fundamental issues that have stopped us from winning trophies is the same now as it was last year, we need at least top quality, premiership ready centre back, and a striker that can come in and play as a target man with a fox in the box mentality. There has been a lot of talk from Wenger and Ivan Gazidis about who they are looking to bring in behind the scenes, the big names and special talents, so as a show of faith to Arsene I have two sets of predictions, one for as it stands now and another  if we get a centre back and striker who will do the jobs needed.

I’m a firm believer of ‘In Wenger we Trust’ but even my faith is starting to be worn thin, but the future is bright and the futures Arsene based, but how long exactly he is given by the board and the fans will be down to the games that start the season.