With a couple of weeks to go it didn’t look too good, but the club worked tirelessly and managed to pull off some very good signings. Nicolas Pépé and Dani Ceballos will be real assets to the team even if Ceballos is only on loan for the season while Kieran Tierney looks like he will be a great fit too when he returns from his current injury. I’m still not sure about the deadline day signing of David Luiz, but I’m hoping he can help to improve a defence which badly needs improving.
We also signed Gabriel Martinelli and while he might get a few chances this season he’s definitely seen as one for the future. William Saliba was signed from St. Etienne too, but he’s being loaned back to them for the season as part of the deal and again he’s been bought with the future in mind. Of course it’s important to keep an eye on where we’re going and the future of the club is very important, but from here on it’s how this season goes that matters as our quest to return to the top four begins.
The ongoing situation with both Mesut Ozil and Sead Kolasinac hasn’t helped with both players left out of the squad for “personal reasons” after the attempted carjacking a couple of weeks ago. If the rumours are to be believed there have been further threats to the players and it would be difficult for them to concentrate on football when the scum of the earth are targeting them and those they care about. The sooner the situation is sorted the better and it certainly does say a lot for the state of law and order in London at the moment.
We probably won’t see too many of our new signings from the start today with Pépé still short of match fitness and Luiz only arriving at the club late on Thursday. Tierney is of course injured while Martinelli is unlikely to play which just leaves Ceballos as a contender. I imagine we will see him in the team and he’ll probably play alongside Granit Xhaka in the midfield.
With all of those absences Unai Emery doesn’t have too many choices to make today. I’d be surprised if he included Shkodran Mustafi in the team considering he has told him he can leave the club which would mean we will most likely see Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Callum Chambers in the centre of defence with Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Nacho Monreal as the full backs in a four man defence. With the midfield duo already sorted that will probably leave Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on one side of the attack with Reiss Nelson on the other and Henrikh Mkhitaryan behind Alexandre Lacazette.
It’s a team more than capable of going to a Newcastle team who have lost their best two players from last season and winning. Newcastle have of course brought in some new players themselves, but they will have to be gradually worked into the team just like our new arrivals. They have a new manager too and it’s up to us to start on the front foot and make sure they don’t have a chance to get a foothold in the game and build some confidence.
I think we will more than likely get a narrow win and I hope to see Pépé come off the bench and make a contribution too. Of all our new players he’s the one I’m looking forward to seeing the most and the one most likely to have a real impact on our season.
A win is a must for us followed by a home win against Burnley next week before two very difficult games ahead of the first pesky international break of the season. There’s no point in thinking too far ahead though and I’ll be more than happy with three points ahead of that Burnley game and the Liverpool and Spurs games.
That’s it for today.
See you tomorrow.
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