Morning all.
It’s here at last, Arsenal’s opening game of the 2024/25 season. A home fixture against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Mikel Arteta on Arsenal.com:
We are really excited. We’ve been missing the competition for many weeks, it’s too long for us. We are so willing to start and so enthusiastic about it.
On the last day [of the season], we had a gathering together with all the club players and they were coming to me and saying: ‘we are going to do it next year, we are going to be better, we want more.’ And when you see that you accept they’re the ones driving that ambition so that’s always possible.
It’s like you’re trying to climb the highest mountain. It’s the most difficult league in the world and you feel surrounded by a lot of people who have the same ambition every single day to achieve it. We’re certainly going to try.
As fans, that’s all we can ask for. Every single player and coach trying their best for the next ten months.
Pre-season for Mikel Arteta’s team has been very good. We’ve seen our new signing Riccardo Calafiori setlle in like he’s been at the club for years and we’ve had glimpses of who might be the future. Ethan Nwaneri, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ayden Heaven especially.
Arsenal have made just the one new signing so far but I think we’ll see one or two more yet, more perhaps if Arsenal sell. I wouldn’t say our squad is much stronger than last season but it’s definitely older and wiser. Defensively we’re stronger in depth that’s for sure. But, we’ve sold Smith Rowe meaning a lot of hope and expectation surrounds both Vieira and Nwaneri.
Wolves have been busy during this window, signing Tommy Doyle, Rodrigo Gomes, Pedro Lima, Arthur Nasta and Jorgen Strand Larsen. Pedro Neto’s £54 million move to Chelsea probably helped fund their new players. Good for them.
This will be Gary O’Neil’s second season at Wolves after his first saw the club improve in many areas although I’ll spare you the stats. Basically, their goal tally was up and they were quicker in the way they move the ball around. But, they conceded 65 goals throughout the season, over double our numbers. We almost doubled there 50 goals scored..
I’ve absolutely no idea what to expect from Wolves today, let alone what their new signings will bring to the playing table but Arsenal’s Adrian Clarke does. Writing in the official match-day programme:
Having mainly used a back three during his time with Wolves, O’Neil has worked almost exclusively on a 4-2-3-1 during pre-season. Wolves are a terrific counter-attacking side blessed with bags of pace. In 2023/24 Bournemouth and Liverpool were the only two top-flight teams to rack up more shots from fast breaks than Wolves, who ranked first for the highest number of completed dribbles.
Energy, aggression and a willingness to adapt their approach according to their opponents are their other hallmarks, with 6’4” target man Larsen providing a fresh tactical option to play a little more direct. They netted 14 goals from dead-ball situations last season, representing a healthy 28 per cent share of their overall tally. However, despite having a wealth of attacking talent, they had the second-fewest attempts on goal in 2023/24, just ahead of Sheffield United. It was the same story for touches inside the opposition box, so O’Neill will want better decisions inside the final third this term.
Jurrien Timber is back in the squad today but both Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney are ruled out through injury. Fabio Vieira could make the squad having trained this week. What a relief.
I’m sure every Arsenal fan wants to see a big performance today. Make it clear that this group of players aren’t going anywhere other than up. The Emirates will be buzzing I’m sure, North London Forever will be loud and sung with pride. This Arsenal team/squad has given us all something to be proud of by going toe to toe with the juggernaut which is Man City.
Catch up in the comments.
Earwig O. Earwig O. Earwig O.
‘morning Rico. Can’t wait to watch the highlights on Sky this evening. It’s always best to know the result before actually watching some of the action…not! 😕
Saw the last half an hour of the Manc/Fulham game so Emile came off pretty much as soon as I tuned in.
Fulham lacked any real threat or penetration up front and for all their attacking play and never looked like scoring (Nketiah might be a plan Cottagers) but they won’t play the same against Arsenal (low block).
Man Utd were rubbish, but I was pleased they scored in the end as I want Ten Hag to keep his job.
Back in the saddle Rico for another 9 months or so of thrills, spills, ups and downs but mostly ups.
Wasn’t David Raya a new signing? Anyway the squad is defensively stronger with Califiori and Timber in it, Havertz is fully integrated and confident, Jesus is fit, Zinchenko is fit, Vieira is fit (hurrah), Partey will be playing for a new deal next summer so we should see a lot more of him, Nwaneri is LANS, MLS isn’t far behind and reinforcements are coming over the hill from Sociedad.
I’d say that that squad is a lot stronger than 12 months ago when we were kicking off with Eddie leading the line and uncertainty over the goalkeeper.
Morning Cicero, Kev and all.
I’m looking forward to the highlights too, especially if we win. 😝
I’m hoping for lots of ups Kev with a big trophy at the end of May..
Afternoon Rico and all,
Fingers crossed we can start the season with a win,
now Just getting ready to watch Ipswich vs Liverpool, Hopefully Ipswich can corse an upset and win
Afternoon all,
Can’t wait for the game,I have total faith in the players,reports say Viera is unfit.
Hutchinson in the team for Ipswich.
COYG
Afternoon Geoff.
I’m quite excited about watching how Nwaneri will evolve this season..
I hope that Nwaneri is on the bench and that he gets some minutes, game stats allowing
Afternoon all, thanks rico for good preview, love the light sarcasm😂
Shows how far we have come in the last couple of years that anything other than a home win would feel a disaster. But that’s the state of the league with Cities dominance. COYG
Watching the Ipswich – Liverpool game the ref is letting every Liverpool foul go,he can’t blow his whistle fast enough when it’s Ipswich. Even game so far.
Thanks Andrew. I couldn’t resist. 😂
Somethings haven’t changed then Limey.
It’s not only the ref, the Ipswich player get tripped over and grabs the ball the commentater wants a red card for hand ball, yet Liverpool done the same thang a hell of a lot last season but i didn’t hear the commentaters call for red cards against them.
Liverpool now 0 -2 and heading for top( !) to be fair it’s been coming,Ipswich did well in the first half,but they have been hanging on for most of the second half.
Arsenal team news
Arsenal: Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Partey, Rice, Odegaard; Saka, Havertz, Martinelli.
Subs: Ramsdale, Calafiori, Timber, Jorginho, Nelson, Nwaneri, Trossard, Jesus, Nketiah.
Good afternoon Lady and gents.
team line up…..
Arsenal: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Partey, Rice, Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Havertz.
Subs: Ramsdale, Timber, Calafiori, Jorginho, Nwaneri, Nelson, Trossard, Jesus, Nketiah.
The bench is good. It can only get better during squeeky bum time for transfers.
25 mins to go and they seem like an eternity. My head was in the clouds all day, yearning for kick off. Its like waiting for December and Christmas between 26th December and 30th November.
Seems that Merino will be ours by the next game.
I was typing the line up when you posted Rico. So sorry
That’s a very strong bench.
Geoff doing well to post in the wee small hours.
No Kiwior on the bench..
Afternoon Devil.
Maybe Kiwior is closer to a move rather than Reiss or Eddie?
Welcome to the House of Fun
Two weeks of busy busy I reckon… lol
Merino has been left out of his club’s matchday squad. and reports in Italian and spanish media say that deal is very near at 30M which is halfway between their valuation and ours.
Kev….just to point out that ever since De Ligt made his senior debut, he has started all nine seasons under a different coach each time with only ETH being the coach who has coached him twice….in his 3rd year at Ajax and in his 9th season. He has never started consecutive seasons under the same coach. So technically speaking ManU will be having a new coach next year.
Happy birthday to Thierry Henry, who turns 47 years old today.
👕 917 games
⚽️ 411 goals
🎯 203 assists
🤝🏽 614 goal contributions
🏆 2 Premier League titles
🏆 3 FA Cups
🏆 1 UEFA Champions League
🏆 2 La Liga titles
🏆 1998 FIFA World Cup
🏆 Euro 2000.
🏅4x Premier League Golden Boot.
✅ 2x PFA Players’ Player of the Year
✅ 3x FWA Footballer of the Year.
🇫🇷 5x French Player of the Year
Here we go…..if we remain whole season undefeated we might win the EPL. If we win all the games we will be champions for sure.
Pa is getting to watch them with Gramps for free now.
Afternoon all
Happy new year sorry, season to one and all.
Let’s hope all our dreams come true and end up with a lot of silverware and silver polish at the end of the season.
COYGs
Wavy, will we be singing ‘Tis the season to be jolly, falalala lala la
Arsenal in control, playing great football, creating chances but not putting them away. Courtesy of The Merse on Sky.
Yep Cicero. Its all us except the score. We need to put them away.
1-0. Havertz.
Havertzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
One nil to The Arsenal Havertz! 25 mins.
Who needs a striker?
We do….
Great bit of play, that’s goal has been coming for the last 10 minutes
The commentator on Arsenal.com agrees with me.. lol
Saka limping 🫣
Thomas Party needs to do a lot more, great save by Raya to keep it 1 nil at half time.
I think it’s almost time to bring Califiori on for his debut as Zinchenko is approaching clanger time.
Sounds like Wolves are on top this half..
Timber on for Zinchenko
Phew, we needed that second goal.
Saka.
That’s the goal we needed,
Star Boy
Lovely whipped in shot from Saka. Up till few a minutes ago Wolves had nearly two thirds second half possession!
We still need another I think. Martinelli needs one for sure and then rest Saka.
Few uncharacteristic mistakes by Saliba today
And Partey 2nd half.
Trossard in for Saka. Thank God. He needed that
All over at The Emirates Arsenal 2 – 0 Wolves.
Clean sheet – lovely jubly
Opposition scouts will note that Partey can be got at…
Two goals, clean sheet, three points. Just another day at the office. 🔔🔔
We win first game with what I have always considered to be the perfect result in all means…..2-0 (1 in each half), clean sheet, two strikers score and no long term injuries.
Am I happy? You can all bet I am.
Jesus on for Rice 84 mins booked 88 mins. The bloke is a liability.
Good result…
Nice to get up and running with a win..
Nice win, with A few shaky moment but I would have taken Party off, he did nothing, Raya player of the match.
The Wolves player should have been given a yellow card for putting his hand around the neck of another player.
Bit p-ss-d off with Arteta for not bringing on Calafiori
Jesus was bending down and opponent pushed his bottom. Jesus pushes back and straight yellow! So funny. I hate that ref since he was on VAR against us.
https://arsenalist.com/f/goal-havertz-1-0-2024-08-17.html
Gillett has always be rubbish..
https://arsenalist.com/f/goal-saka-2-0-2024-08-17.html
Jesus’ yellow was uncalled for. He shouldn’t have reacted that way. He should have stayed his ground without reacting
That’s Jesus though…
Calafiori’s time will come Geoff. I expect that against Villa the team will be unchanged, however expect changes for the next game. Calafiori and Timber will feature in the third game. Gabriel and Zinchenko will be rested with Calafiori and Timber taking their place while Saliba and White will retain their place
If Tommy wasn’t injured I expect that he would have featured as well.
Good result,2 main goalscorers on the scoreboard,clean sheet,job done.
I’ve only seen the goals and brief highlights,tougher tests to come but the race has started.
I think that Jesus was kind of provoked and his reaction was understandable
I’d rather call it unprofessional.
it is Cicero. he shouldn’t even have reacted. Imagine what he would have done had Vinny Jones grabbed his balls instead of touching his arse. I doubt he would have reacted as one stare from VJ would have pole axed him
Point I’m making though, was it right to book the retailiation push and not the bottom push? Either both or none surely, but thats Gillett
Was the initial contact deemed to be a foul worth a booking? Retaliation is almost always treated as a bookable offence. Jesus is a senior pro and should know better.
I haven’t yet seen the incident and will watch the Sky Game of the Day recording in the morning.
I’m not sure too many straight guys would be that comfortable with another man grabbing their arse, so the reaction of pushing him away was, to me, understandable but maybe Gillet likes a bit of bum fun and was offended by Jesus’ reaction?
Havertz getting grabbed around the throat and the incident being ignored was more worrying to me, using my Xhaka standard of comparison I think Granit would be simply off, so the officials bottled it.
I liked the new speeded up VAR so that’s progress but improvement among our officials in general is still badly needed.
As I said before how can you grab another player around the neck and not get a yellow card, yet jesus get one for pushing another player to the ground. Now you can understand why we sent him to England.
Saka has to learn about this kicking the ball away, this is not the first time he has picked up a yellow card for doing it.
Good morning everyone
Kev you’re right, any straight guy wouldnt be comfortable with someone grabbing their arse. However, even in the street you cannot retaliate. There is something called suing for sexual harrassment. Jesus should have stood his ground and asked Odegaard to intervene with the ref. He shouldnt have retaliated and although is actions are understandable, he should know that some refs are quicker than anything to book an Arsenal player. Jesus is not someone who is deemed to be an undroppable 1st 11 and is not a player who reaches the amount of 5 yellows by December, however he should have got on with it. As Cicero pointed out ‘Jesus is a senior pro and should know better.’
Yes, there were even worse fouls on us that went unpunished but that does not mean that Jesus was right in retaliating. And no, there is nothing in the rule book saying that fondling someone’s arse or any part of the body is a bookable offence. It is done all the time if and can easliy be seen if one does not look at the ball but instead looks around to what the players get up to. Retaliation is a straight yellow. Jesus knows that and while we understand his reaction and deep down we might be saying ‘he reacted only that way, I would have done worse’ yet we all understand that if we react we will face the consequences of inefficient and biased refs.
Well I don’t know about any of you Millennials or Zoomers but if some geezer grabs my arse they’re most probably gonna be shoved away from me and into the direction of moving traffic.
Gillet should have booked both players for ‘arsegate’ but then the bum fondler should have already been off after the strangling incident.
It was that kind of game.
Bum fondling probably comes under unseemly conduct.
Good Morning all
I have only seen the highlights and tbh I saw a few mistakes by surprisingly Saliba and Partey needs to go. Two very good goals but we don’t want to be over dependent on Saka do we ?.
I don’t understand Arteta’s subs but I understand Rice had cramp.Timber looks good but is completely right footed so why did he play on the left.
I have to admit that Raya has really improved and that was an excellent save and he seems to be gaining more confidence perhaps as he is now not on loan and has established himself though I had my doubts initially.
it was an Ok performance,a better team might have punished us .Happy with the 3 points but thought we would play better in defence and partially in midfield.
Morning all.
New post up.