by Bulldog Drummond
Looking forward to the game against Newcastle we can see that they finished 13th in the league last season, after seeming to be one of the key relegation prospects at the start of November. Indeed they went through their first nine league games last season without getting a victory, having started with a game against Tottenham. This time around they are going rather more upmarket by playing us in the first match.
By the end of the season Newcastle had recovered somewhat and finished 13th
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| 13 | Newcastle United | 38 | 12 | 9 | 17 | 42 | 48 | -6 | 45 |
| 14 | AFC Bournemouth | 38 | 13 | 6 | 19 | 56 | 70 | -14 | 45 |
| 15 | Burnley | 38 | 11 | 7 | 20 | 45 | 68 | -23 | 40 |
| 16 | Southampton | 38 | 9 | 12 | 17 | 45 | 65 | -20 | 39 |
| 17 | Brighton and Hove Albion | 38 | 9 | 9 | 20 | 35 | 60 | -25 | 36 |
| 18 | Cardiff City | 38 | 10 | 4 | 24 | 34 | 69 | -35 | 34 |
| 19 | Fulham | 38 | 7 | 5 | 26 | 34 | 81 | -47 | 26 |
| 20 | Huddersfield Town | 38 | 3 | 7 | 28 | 22 | 76 | -54 | 16 |
And their home form matched that overall form exactly – they were 13th in the home games league
| 13 | Newcastle United | 19 | 8 | 1 | 10 | 24 | 25 | -1 | 25 |
| 14 | Southampton | 19 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 27 | 30 | -3 | 23 |
| 15 | Burnley | 19 | 7 | 2 | 10 | 24 | 32 | -8 | 23 |
| 16 | Brighton and Hove A. | 19 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 19 | 28 | -9 | 23 |
| 17 | Fulham | 19 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 22 | 36 | -14 | 21 |
| 18 | Crystal Palace | 19 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 19 | 23 | -4 | 20 |
| 19 | Cardiff City | 19 | 6 | 2 | 11 | 21 | 38 | -17 | 20 |
| 20 | Huddersfield Town | 19 | 2 | 3 | 14 | 10 | 31 | -21 | 9 |
If we compare Newcastle’s home form of 25 points with 24 goals scored and 25 conceded with Arsenal’s away form of last season, we find that Arsenal also had 25 points, with 31 scored and 35 conceded. On that basis we can either except a 1-1 or 2-2 draw, or a 2-1 victory to Arsenal.
Newcastle (unless I’ve missed a last minute transfer) have spent £24m this summer. Their purchases were
- Joelinton, a forward — from Hoffenheim for £40m
- Kyle Scott, a midfielder — from Chelsea available on a free transfer
- Jake Turner, a goalkeeper — from Bolton also on a free
- Allan Saint-Maximin, a winger — from Nice for £16.5m
- Jetro Willems, a defender — from Eintracht Frankfurt on loan.
- Emil Krafth, Defender — from Amiens for £5m
- Andy Carroll, an alien from WHU on a free.
Leaving aside the loans, their players out were
- Ayoze Pérez to Leicester Cit for £30m
- Mohamed Diamé to Al Ahli on a free transfer
- Joselu to Alavés for £2.5m
And of course they have a new manager: Steve Bruce. In previous jobs he took Birmingham City to the First Division play offs in 2002 and achieved runners’ up status in 2006/7 in the Championship. With Hull City he won the Championship in 2013, and lost the FA Cup final to us, in 2014. He also took them to the Championship play-offs in 2016.
I really am not too sure who our boss is going to pick for the team, so in the last piece I listed the players who have been shown by Arsenal.com as first teamers. But that list does not include any of the youngsters who we have been watching developing. Will any of them even make the beach?
Of those we have seen playing pre-season we might expect something from Joe Willock, Reiss Nelson and Emile Smith-Rowe. Each has been knocking on the door for several years and to my eye each has made real progress this season. Although I think Smith-R has a minor injury.
Eddie has gone to Leeds on loan, which I find disappointing, but then what do I know?
Joe Willock is clearly in the manager’s mind having made a brief appearance in the Europa final, and he seems to have come on tremendously this past year. I saw one blogger compare him to a young Vieira – and that could be right.
Reiss Nelson got a lot out of his year in Hoffenheim, and we have already seen him playing in League games, so unless something has gone very wrong, he too ought to be a serious contender.
Emile Smith Rowe went to Leipzig and seems to have developed there, and again I have the feeling that really, if he has not reached the stage where he gets some game time, then how is any young player ever going to get a break through?
Indeed we are going to have to be careful in that if we don’t give these players a chance, talented youngsters will start thinking that no one has a chance to make it up through the grades at Arsenal. Not least because beyond these four we have other players coming through: players such as Gabriel Martinelli, Robbie Burton, Tyreece John-Jules, and Zech Medley. There is a lot of talent coming through the Academy.
Last I imagine that since we have only two keepers listed on Arsenal.com for the first team Deyan Iliev is going to be our third keeper – becoming the backup to the two main keepers. He did make the bench on the Europa Final so I guess we will see him in cup games, at the very least on the beanch, if not occasionally in goal.
Wouldn’t Matt Macey be a candidate for 3rd keeper?
On http://www.worldfootball.net I saw the names of: Emile Smith-Rowe, Reiss Nelson, Joe Willock and Gabriele Martinelli being listed among the 28 Arsenal first team squad for the first half of the 20T9-2020 Premier League season campaign. But since only the maximum of 25 senior players are officially allowed by the Premier League to be listed per club. I believe the 4 junior players who Arsenal have included on their list are supplementary players who are allowed to be included by Premier League I will think. But there is no room for Saka inclusion in the 28 man Arsenal strong first team squad list who I thought has the game playing potential developing capacity as a left winger that can replace the sold Alex Iwobi.
But because of the carjacking case that happened that’s being investigated by the police who have commence investigations on it, Ozil and Kolasinac who are the victims of the carjacking will not play for Arsenal away to Newcastle in the PL on Sunday tomorrow according to reports. This could be a serious miss for Arsenal as both men are key players in Emery’s first team starting XI that could start the match for Arsenal against Newcastle I am believing. And I am thinking Pepe is not yet match fit ready to play for Arsenal. And Lacazette who is recovering from a knock will not have fully recovered that will allow him to participate in this match in any form for Arsenal.
However, even with the duo of Ozil and his friend Kolasinac missing for Arsenal against Newcastle, I believe Arsenal will still beat Newcastle and collect all the 3 points at stake in the match and have a winning start to their Premier League campaign this season.
My Arsenal 4231 playing formation starting XI and 7 man on the bench Gunners who I want to see Emery use to play this match and win it convincingly are stated below.
Starters:
Leno;
AMN Chambers Sokratis Monreal;
Xhaka Willock;
Mkhitaryan Ceballos Nelson;
Aubameyang.
Benchers:
Martinez Luiz Mustafi Guendouzi Torreria Rowe Martinelli.
ESR has more than a minor injury. He didn’t feature in any of the pre-season games. Did you know Arsenal.com has a team news page? It’s probably more reliable than the external injuries sites. The latest news from Arsenal re ESR is, “Groin. Progressing well in training and aiming to re-join the first team squad in 1-2 weeks.”
We lost 3 very promising youngsters this summer: Xavier Amaechi, Yunus Musah and Dominic Thompson, 4 including Bielik.
Did you also know that Arsenal.com has lists of players loaned out? Iliev has been shown as a loanee for a while now. Alternatively, Jeorge Bird’s blog is a great source of facts, including loans and first team promotions.
John L: Macey is the 3rd keeper. Although he still shows up on Arsenal.com’s Academy page, he is well over 21 so will count as part of the official PL Squad of 25. Jeorge Bird also stated he was promoted to the first team.
Thank you, Robert