Arsenal have one of the toughest fixture lists out of any team in England and six points out of nine would be a great start. The curtain raiser for Arsenal is at St. James's Park against Newcastle United. After the first 45 minutes last season, we would be going in to this match very confident, having been 4-0 by the time the referee blew for half-time. The second-half proved one to forget. But with every fresh new season comes new optimism and this match has no title/relegation odds baring on it, with no real form from either team. It could easily go either way.
With Arsenal finishing fourth last season it has given the Gunners an extra two games in qualifying for the UEFA Champions League group stages. These matches are just before the tough home match against Liverpool and then sandwiched between Liverpool at the Emirates and to then face the champions Manchester United at 'The Theatre of Dreams'.
We haven't won at Old Trafford in the league since Adebayor scored to win 1-0. That was back in the 2006-2007 season. That seems like an eternity now. Liverpool at home last season was a difficult affair, making hard work of it, to then earn a penalty in injury time and go 1-0 up. What came next was unbelievable but honestly typical to then go and give a stupid penalty away moments later. To give the game up so cheaply when a win seemed more than likely, that just ended Arsenal's season completely mentally.
This season we could come out of August looking in a dire position, but on the other hand Arsenal could be facing a much easier task by the title run in. But didn't we think last last season? Let's just hope it'll be a cracking start to the season!
No comments:
Post a Comment