Since 2010, Arsenal have won just one of their seven
first league matches of the season due to a combination of not making new signings until the end of the transfer window and players either being injured or not fit after pre-season.
As we approach Arsenal's
first League match of the season on Sunday, there is a lot of discussion about which teams should be favourites to win the Premier League title come May next year.
Star playmaker Manuel Lanzini and box to box midfield force Cheikhou Kouyate are available for
their first league match of the season, as both are on the bench.
It would appear that Newcastle have themselves back on track after losing
their first league match of the new calendar year at Blackburn.
Not exact matches
It isn't enough to simply get Under 21 games and a few cup
matches with the
first team, because those fixtures don't necessarily offer players the true physicality, feel and experience
of playing in the Premier
League.
Arsenal fans also want to see the side defend well as that is another area
of concern with Koscielny and Mertesacker not available for the visit
of Liverpool in the
first Premier
League match.
As Arsenal look to kick off their Champions
League campaign by picking up some points away to Paris Saint Germain in the
first match of the group phase, there were some concerns about Arsenal's star centre back.
The Gunners have conceded at least three goals in four
of their last six
first leg
matches in the last - 16
of the Champions
League.
Livermore, who has come through the ranks at White Hart Lane, started Spurs
first three
league matches of the season but the signing
of Moussa Dembele has since forced him to the bench.
NorthEast United were the whipping boys
of the
first - ever Indian Super
League season, winning only three
of their 14
matches in the eight - team division.
We lost our
first match to Aston Villa, audaciously brought in Ozil on deadline day and where topping the
league by the end
of December.
The ban means that he will not only miss this weekend's FA CUP FINAL
match against Chelsea, but the
first two games
of the Premier
League 2017/18 season.
Wenger and the Gunners will be expecting a spirited showing from Swansea in their
first match under new manager Bob Bradley, but they are still on a terrible run
of six Premier
League games without a win and in none
of those games have they kept a clean sheet, conceding 12 goals while Arsenal have scored 14 in our last five.
So judging by the fact that it was the French central midfield star Francis Coquelin sat next to the boss today ahead
of the Champions
League match at home to Ludogorets Razgrad, I assume that Le Coq is set for his
first Arsenal start since picking up a knee injury in the Premier
League win over Chelsea.
The midfielder started his
first Premier
League match of the campaign in midweek, coming in for the sidelined Aaron Ramsey, and is believed to be in line for a new deal.
Arsenal players haven been overly played this season because
of the Europa
league where we have been playing mainly our B team and Ozil and MK haven't had too many games before Christmas so i think our
first 16 players are not heavily over worked and will have less to do in the coming weeks, we should be more worried about
match fitness then fatigue,
The 19 year - old has not yet played a
League match for Leicester's
first team but won the Academy Player
of the Year last season and played a full 90 minutes against Hull in the
League Cup this season.
The Gunners need to win both
of their remaining Premier
League matches to have any hope
of reaching the Champions
League places, and
first they will have to take all three points from their home tie against the already - relegated Sunderland.
While the Stamford Bridge outfit have been top
of the Premier
League since the
first day
of the season, the Gunners have had to win their last eight
matches in order to even get close to touching distance
of the Blues.
Speaking about Sanchez's experience in the competition, Mourinho said «Alexis played Champions
League for a few years with different clubs», with the Man United boss then adding «
Of my other boys, Lukaku is the
first season in the Champions
League, Rashford, Martial, Lingard, just a few
matches.
United have not scored a
first - half goal at home in the Premier
League since September and have drawn five
of their last eight
matches at Old Trafford 0 - 0.
Tottenham Hotspur are through to the knockout stages
of this season's Europa
League after a narrow 1 - 0 victory against Serbian champions Partizan Belgrade at White Hart Lane in a
match that was briefly suspended due to three individual pitch invaders causing havoc in the
first half.
Manchester City came into this
match with a surprising advantage over Paris Saint - Germain, having earned a 2 - 2 draw in the
first leg
of their Champions
League quarterfinal tie.
The 24 year - old now looks set to feature in his fifth Premier
League match of his career, his
first since December 2014.
The 21 - year - old caught the eye after netting his
first goal for the club in a man -
of - the -
match display versus Sunderland in January, but struggled to make an impact on the Reds
first - team, having made just 11 Premier
League starts in his
first season at Anfield.
That made the Hornets the
first side to secure automatic promotion to the Premier
League, putting them four points ahead
of fourth place with one
match to play.
In addition to honest and open communication concerns, there are also fundamental issues
of managerial incompetence, poor negotiating strategy, procrastination, dithering, lack
of ambition, lack
of willingness to compete with the top teams in the
league despite supposedly being financial heavyweights, desperation at the very end
of the window, compounded by promises made when Arsene was re-signed and poor team selection decisions for the
first three
matches, further compounded by a pattern
of incompetence during transfer windows and in general management
of the team in recent years that understandable has fan patience at a very low level.
Arsenal are currently on a run
of nine
league matches without a clean sheet, and if they concede against City tonight it will be the
first time they've gone ten in a row without keeping their opponents out since February 2002.
The powerful striker looks certain for a summer exit after Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp dropped Benteke from the
match day squad against Arsenal in their
first Premier
League game
of the season.
Rodriguez helped FC Porto to back to back domestic titles in his
first two seasons at the club and is one
of the
leagues top assist makers and has also racked up eight goals in 17
matches.
Arsenal fans will finally get the chance to see the summer signing that we all hope will make the difference in our challenge to regain the Premier
League title next season, after Petr Cech watched from the bench as the Gunners won the
first match of pre-season to qualify for the final
of the Asia Trophy against Everton today.
Arsenal could really do with a win in the Premier
League's
first match of the weekend, though, to stretch that gap between us and Everton, so maybe Ronald Koeman also did us a favour at the weekend by beating our next opponents West Brom and making it two defeats in a row for Tony Pulis and the Baggies.
Chelsea face West Brom in their next
league match on Monday evening, and Morata's continued absence surely presents the chance
of a
first start up front for January signing Olivier Giroud.
However, the team he put out got a good point as with the
league win against the saints this team has shown that without a
first team starting they are capable
of getting results last season and in previous seasons would have lost both those
matches.
In fact I reckon he might even be in line for a
first start
of the season when the Bulgarian champions Ludogorets Razgrad come to London on Wednesday for the next Champions
League match, and if you are thinking
of coming then I know that you can still get Arsenal tickets from here at a good price.
When the Gunners are up against lower
league oppositio0n on a cup, for instance, we often hear the old adage that we have to
match the work rate
of our opponents
first and earn the right to play and exert that superior quality.
The latter duo are nearing a return to
first - team action, with the Spaniard making the bench for Arsenal's last Premier
League match with Norwich, but was not selected to enter the field
of play.
During his
first season at Arsenal, Seaman conceded just 19 goals in the 38
matches of the
league, and the club claimed the title in May
of that year.
After the Spurs
match there is another international break and Arsenal's
first two games after it could be absolutely massive for our hopes in the Premier
League this season as well as our chances
of ending the six year cycle
of qualifying but not finishing on top
of the Champions
League group.
The second leg
of the Champions
League group stage is less than 50 hours away and there are plenty
of exciting
matches as the
first - round field starts to take shape.
If Arsenal do as we expect them to this weekend and run out as winners
of the home game against a struggling Southampton side getting used to their new manager Claude Puel, while he gets used to the English Premier
League for the
first time, then we will be heading into the next round
of matches a bit closer to at least one
of our big spending Premier
League rivals.
The Champions
League may not have been too much fun for Arsenal this season, although it did have it's good moments with the brilliant final group
match win away at Olympiacos that got us through and the home win over the German Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich, but the competition could be the key to Arsenal sealing the
first transfer
of the summer.
Well, this time the Manchester United manager's rage is probably justified because his side were robbed
of a perfectly good goal during the
first half
of their Premier
League match against Middlesbrough on New Year's Eve.
After returning late to
first team training, Giroud is still yet to build up his physical fitness to
match the demands
of the Premier
League.
I am writing this article before Arsenal and our Premier
League rivals like Man City and Leicester City kick off for the
first matches of the new year, so the numbers in the statistics I am using to compare our assist king Mesut Ozil with other players doing well in the same position will have changed by tonight.
If the Arsenal and France international defender Laurent Koscielny is right, then Arsenal fans should be in for a treat today when the Gunners play host to Crystal Palace in the final
match of the
first half
of this Premier
League season.
Redknapp is looking to strengthen his squad next month after taking over a club rooted to the bottom
of the Premier
League without a win in their
first 15
matches.
I don't think that Arsenal have ever been in the position
of losing their
first two Champions
League Group
matches ever before, but all it means is that the Gunners will now be desperate to get their
first three points on the board.
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«Arsenal benefitted from the
first year
of its new kit sponsorship deal with Puma to drive impressive commercial revenue growth
of 34 per cent, and its
match - day revenue was the highest
of any club in the Money
League, and nearly # 30m greater than Chelsea's.»