After a summer which was supposed to have seen significant money spent on improvements to the squad, Arsenal start their league campaign against Aston Villa at the Emirates this Saturday with no new senior signings in the squad.

In a pre-season which has seen a successful tour of Asia, followed by a dismal performance in the Emirates Cup, Arsenal fans will be hoping that the Gunners can bring in the form they showed against Man City in Finland in their last pre-season friendly.

Arsenal team news

While many fans were excited at the prospect of Arsenal fielding new players for this weekend’s match, they have to deal with the fact that there are no new signings, and Arsenal have a host of players sidelined by injury.

Per Mertesacker will captain the Arsenal for the foreseeable future, after the Arsenal squad, already down to the bare-bones, lost Mikel Arteta to injury. He is added to the injury list alongside Thomas Vermaelen, Nacho Monreal and, of course, Abou Diaby, while there is also a question over whether or not Bacary Sagna will make it. New singing Yaya Sanogo has also been ruled out.

On the positive side, though, Aaron Ramsey is fit to play after missing Wales’ midweek encounter with Ireland, while Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla appear to have made it through their international matches unscathed.

Possible Line-Up

Szczesny; Jenkinson, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Gibbs; Ramsey, Wilshere, Cazorla; Walcott, Giroud, Podolski

The Opposition

After a spending the best part of last season flirting with relegation, Paul Lambert will be hopeful his Aston Villa side can significantly improve on their performances from last season.

A major bonus for the club was keeping hold of star striker Christian Benteke for this season, despite numerous top clubs being linked with signing the Belgian. Benteke has pace, power and an eye for goal, and so will prove a threat to our sometimes unreliable defence if given the opportunity.

Villa’s squad was young and inexperienced last season, so should prove more of a test this season, and they will also be eager to avoid another relegation battle.

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