Starting XI
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over 11 years

Wonder where he will rank amongst Gallas, Benayoun, Cech, and Luiz. Bar is not especially high.

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over 16 years

Confirmed, Arsenal to rebrand to Chelsea FC Retirement Home for next season.

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ajc28 wrote:

Wonder where he will rank amongst Gallas, Benayoun, Cech, and Luiz. Bar is not especially high.

Lassana Diarra could've been great if he had been prepared to hang around 

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over 16 years

Huge news in the last 24 hours. First up is that the Pepe transfer is under investigation by Arsenal regarding over payment. Second is Sanllehi is gone, Vinkai assuming sole charge as CEO. 

Surge
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Can I have some lungs please miss
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brumbys wrote:

transfer investigated Sanllehi gone. 

Corrected ;-)
Marquee
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over 16 years

Did any of you guys catch the City game? Lyon were decent, some handy players there.

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The Athletic reporting today that when Sanllehi left he was negotiating Auba extension, and deals for Partey & Gabriel Magalhaes.

Would be a tidy bit of business if those three happen - still think we could do with another midfield option like Aouar or Coutinho - but that's the kind of money I just don't think we have.

Legend
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almost 17 years

I wonder if Willian is seen as more of a 10, will be interesting to see. Talk that Arteta wants to go 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 next season, a creative attacker will be needed in those formations.

Sounds like Gabriel and Auba could well be done deals. That would be fantastic. 

Now we gotta offload a bunch of these CBs! You would think that Luiz, Mari, Gabriel (assuing he signs) and Saliba are absolute locks for this coming season, given they are all recently signed or re-signed. 

So that leaves Mustafi, Chambers, Holding, Sokratis and Mavropanos on the books. Sell them all? If we kept just one, who would it be? I would think probably Mustafi to be honest. He's pretty much always fit and looked a lot better under Arteta than Emery. Having said that, if Arteta continues playing Kolasinac as a CB then perhaps sell the lot of them, and Kola is our 5th choice CB and 3rd choice LB cover. Might be risky though, with Mari, Gabriel and Saliba having virtually no EPL experience between them. And perhaps Kolasinac is not a capable CB in a back 4. 

Marquee
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paulm wrote:

I wonder if Willian is seen as more of a 10, will be interesting to see. Talk that Arteta wants to go 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 next season, a creative attacker will be needed in those formations.

So that leaves Mustafi, Chambers, Holding, Sokratis and Mavropanos on the books. Sell them all? If we kept just one, who would it be? I would think probably Mustafi to be honest. He's pretty much always fit and looked a lot better under Arteta than Emery. Having said that, if Arteta continues playing Kolasinac as a CB then perhaps sell the lot of them, and Kola is our 5th choice CB and 3rd choice LB cover. Might be risky though, with Mari, Gabriel and Saliba having virtually no EPL experience between them. And perhaps Kolasinac is not a capable CB in a back 4.

The way they've talked up his versatility, Pepe's strength from the right and Auba's from the left I could see him playing that role with Nketiah or Laca playing through the middle.

We need to sell Kolasinac, his passing game at LCB or LB isn't good enough. Mavropanos is already on loan. I'd sell two and keep one of Chambers, Holding, and Mustafi. Sokratis will go - Napoli linked today which would be a good move for him.

Sell: Kolasinac, Sokratis, Holding, Chambers

Loan: Mavropanos

Keep: Mustafi

Chambers injury makes it difficult to shift him, however. With Fulham's return to the EPL he might have a willing buyer there.

Edit: Jesus wept I made a meal of that formatting - apologies

Surge
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Can I have some lungs please miss
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over 16 years
brumbys wrote:

Chambers injury makes it difficult to shift him, however. With Fulham's return to the EPL he might have a willing buyer there.

I saw this mentioned last week... here's hoping - for everybody's sake.
Legend
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almost 17 years

Community shield game in 9 days, unbelievable. 

Transfer window closes on Oct 5, but we're fast getting to the stage where we've got what we've got, and it's time to start!

That's a bit scary really, when you consider we don't even know what's happening with Ceballos for example.

Pre-season training starts in 2 days, only 7 days before that community shield fixture. I'm thinking perhaps that game will be a super rusty one, maybe even just the kids.

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over 16 years

looks like Gabriel Magalhães from Lille has been agreed. will find out more in the coming days. Never heard of him before we were rumoured with him. hope he's good. 

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over 16 years
kwlap wrote:

looks like Gabriel Magalhães from Lille has been agreed. will find out more in the coming days. Never heard of him before we were rumoured with him. hope he's good. 

Lille as agreed, but player is yet to agree to terms. 

Legend
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almost 17 years

Most of the stuff I'm reading suggests he was choosing between us and Napoli, but really wants us. Napoli are throwing more cash at him but seems we may win out there.

Additionally, talk that Sokratis is actually in talks with Napoli. So a nice wee merry-go-round.

I'd never heard of him until I first saw the rumours and starting googling. Seems he's quite highly rated and has had a good season in France. He and Saliba our partnership of the future? I thought that about Chambers/Holding once...

Legend
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almost 17 years

If nothing happens with Ceballos in the next couple of days then I suspect we won't have him for the start of the season. He's joining pre-season with Real Madrid as it stands. 

First lineup for game one? 

Anyone's guess.

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over 16 years

I'm not giving up hope of Ceballos, but if he doesn't come back and we lose Guendouzi + Torreira to I suspect we'll need more than Partey to fill the gap. Aouar could be that guy, apparently we've had a bid go in already but we're being cheap - unsurprisingly.

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over 16 years

Fixtures announced today; we start the season away to Fulham September 12th.

It's actually a big start for us:

Fulham (a)

West Ham (h)

Liverpool (a)

Sheffield United (h)

City (a)

Leicester (h)

United (a)

Legend
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over 16 years

massive start, 4 very winnable games in there, if we can start strong we might even steal a point or two off United and liverpool

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over 16 years
theprof wrote:

massive start, 4 very winnable games in there, if we can start strong we might even steal a point or two off United and liverpool West Ham and Fulham

Fixed. Still 4 very winnable games :)

Starting XI
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over 11 years

Brutal start. Always feel like everyone plays everyone twice so a tough run should even out to a nicer one at some other point but would be nice to not already be miles behind by the end of October. Playing most of the big sides away in the first half of the season which may be an advantage as there's unlikely to be crowds yet.

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over 16 years

Freddie's resigned - will be interesting to see who Arteta brings in...

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over 16 years

Yea I saw that Freddie left, I think he is casing management jobs. 

Just read that Pat Rice is leaving That is huge news. 50 odd years at Arsenal. Massive part of the club's heart goes with him. 

WeeNix
200
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530
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almost 5 years

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSIrKfmgR1s - thought this video was quite good, this seems like the most appropriate place to leave it

Legend
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almost 17 years

Apparently AMN to Wolves all but done, 20m. Gutted to see him go, we will miss him for the squad depth, but obviously not happy to be a bench player, so off he goes.

Talk that Bellerin is being offered to PSG.

Supposedly in talks with Shalke to offload Kolasinac.

Mustafi, Sokratis, Chambers and Holding being shopped around. 

Huge defensive turnover on the books eh. We knew the CB personnel were all changing but it's a surprise to see all the fullbacks being shown the door. I guess we're covered on the left with Tierney and Saka, and with Arteta ditching the 3-4-3 there's no real place for Kolasinac any longer, but surprised to see 2 strong RB options being turfed out. Does Arteta have a purchase in mind in that position?

Marquee
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over 16 years

bit sad about this one, but it looks like AMN is off to Wolves. Hope he does well there 

Starting XI
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over 11 years

In the mean time apparently we've signed Cedric and Mari again. So good we signed them 3 times. Kia must have found a loophole that gets him another fee. It's unclear whether the latest 4 years announced is added to the previously announced 4 years.

Marquee
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over 16 years

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZufyCMvBVr0

Live stream of us vs MkDons right now.

Looks to be:
 

              Leno

  Saliba Holding Tierney

Soares Elneny Xhaka AMN

Saka Nketiah Aubamayang

Elneny scored a decent finish into an open net from 25 yards out. Saka just set up Nketiah to make it 2-0.

Legend
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15K
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almost 17 years

FT 4-1

Saliba with his first hit-out. 

Surprising AMN started given the rumours floating around. 

No sign of Bellerin. 

Although many others missing as well, they only just returned to training. Actually surprised that so many first teamers played. 

Guendouzi's number has been given to one of the kids so looks like he won't be back at all. We better get some coin for him.

Marquee
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over 16 years

I read that PSG may be after Bellerin but we seem to be linked with so many rumours, it's hard to know what to actually believe.

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over 16 years

Watched up until 70 minutes. Our starting 11 in that game could potentially be the starting 11 for opening day which was crazy to consider. Saliba really stood out. I know the opposition was only League One but he was fast, strong in the air, and fudgeing tall. He made Rob Holding look smaller and slower than he actually is. His passing was also ace, he had a real intentionality to it. He instigated the move that saw Eddie score. Saka's assist was great as he used Auba at the backpost to draw the defenders to the goal line and cut it back for Eddie to finish unimpeded.

Once the youth came on the game slowed down a lot. Main take away for me is how good Nelson looks in the final third on the ball. Lot's of confidence when dribbling and whipping in balls.

Oh and interestingly Soares took most of the corners when he was on ahead of the others out on the field, would be good to find SOMEONE who can put a decent corner in - we always seem to hit the first man without much effort.

Legend
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15K
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almost 17 years

Interesting analysis brumbys. I didn't watch, have only seen highlights and various bits of analysis. Great to hear about Saliba. I'm really looking forward to him, Luiz, Mari and Gabriel being our main CBs.

In the short highlights I watched Nelson did look very tricky, quick, and dangerous. He did well on loan in the bundesliga season before last, and Arteta really seems to rate him - he's trusted him with starts in games I would not have expected. So really hoping he repays that faith and starts delivering consistently. 

Midfield is a worry with Ceballos gone and no word on if we're going to get him back. Torreira doesn't seem to suit Arteta's system and style. Willock is more of an attacking player, doesn't fit into the deeper roles. Maitland-Niles seemingly on the way out, and not trusted in midfield by Arteta anyway. We are very light there, a signing is a must. We may have to rely on Elneny at the start of the season at this rate. 

Also very interesting that we went with the 3-4-3 again yesterday to begin with. Perhaps we aren't going to 4 at the back just yet. I didn't expect that.

LG
Legend
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over 16 years

Just watched Reading 5 Arsenal 7 from a few years back. What a game for fans and a mare for coaches.

Marquee
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over 16 years
Lonegunmen wrote:

Just watched Reading 5 Arsenal 7 from a few years back. What a game for fans and a mare for coaches.

I remember being dubious about getting up for it because it was only Reading in the cup but man was it worth it!

Marquee
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over 16 years
paulm wrote:

Midfield is a worry with Ceballos gone and no word on if we're going to get him back. Torreira doesn't seem to suit Arteta's system and style. Willock is more of an attacking player, doesn't fit into the deeper roles. Maitland-Niles seemingly on the way out, and not trusted in midfield by Arteta anyway. We are very light there, a signing is a must. We may have to rely on Elneny at the start of the season at this rate. 

Also very interesting that we went with the 3-4-3 again yesterday to begin with. Perhaps we aren't going to 4 at the back just yet. I didn't expect that.

I think these two things are linked. Without more options in midfield going to a back 4 with an extra man in midfield isn't doable.

What a turn around for Elneny if he came back from his loan to starting 11!

Legend
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almost 17 years

I'm wondering if Arteta might go for the exact same starting eleven against Liverpool tomorrow night? 

Can't see any of the ones that are back late to training coming right into the team... perhaps Nelson and Willock have a shot at breaking into the eleven, unless Arteta goes for more kids.

Marquee
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over 16 years
paulm wrote:

I'm wondering if Arteta might go for the exact same starting eleven against Liverpool tomorrow night

Can't see any of the ones that are back late to training coming right into the team... perhaps Nelson and Willock have a shot at breaking into the eleven, unless Arteta goes for more kids.

really? we start up tomorrow? woah. the poor players at the end of this season. they will be wrecked. I feel this season might be a battle of who doesn't suffer the most injuries. 

Legend
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15K
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almost 17 years

Well they had a massive break this year already... the rushed schedule when they came back was not good for injuries but if they got through that ok then I don't see why they shouldn't be in pretty good shape now.

Tomorrow night is the community shield. EPL starts Sept 12.

tradition and history
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almost 17 years
paulm wrote:

Well they had a massive break this year already... the rushed schedule when they came back was not good for injuries but if they got through that ok then I don't see why they shouldn't be in pretty good shape now.

Tomorrow night is the community shield. EPL starts Sept 12.

Also 100000 quid a week might help.

Marquee
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over 16 years
Leggy wrote:
paulm wrote:

Well they had a massive break this year already... the rushed schedule when they came back was not good for injuries but if they got through that ok then I don't see why they shouldn't be in pretty good shape now.

Tomorrow night is the community shield. EPL starts Sept 12.

Also 100000 quid a week might help.

Bingo.

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