Good morning, and happy Thursday. We’re over the hump, and the weekend is in sight – it’s now officially Friday Eve, which is as good an excuse for a drink after work as you need. Good stuff.
We’ll start today by getting the transfer bullshit out of the way so I can have a shower and rinse away my contempt for the clickbait and non-stories designed to drive website traffic and sell newspapers.
First up is Julian Draxler, who despite being heavily linked with the club a number of times, has seen his agent dismiss any interest as just rumour and speculation:
There is nothing to it. Top English top clubs have been interested in Julian for years but at the moment there is nothing specific. Julian has to regain full fitness first.
I guess some folk might jump on to the “at the moment” comment, but it does seem like interest has cooled. I can’t say I’d be overly distraught. Admittedly he’s not a player I know a great deal about, so maybe I’m missing out, but we’re well stocked for attacking players. That’s not to say I don’t think we should bring in another attacker at all, but I’m reminded of Arsene’s comments about looking for “super quality”, and I just don’t know whether Draxler falls into that category. And besides, the boy’s been banjaxed for a while now, and the last thing we need is another fragile player.
Someone we were apparently very close to getting a little while back, Gonzalo Higuain, also seems set to stay at his club, Napoli, with their president, Aurelio De Laurentiis, saying the only way he were to leave would be if a “madman” to meet his buy out clause:
The contract will be respected. He’ll only go if a madman offers the buy-out clause. However, Gonzalo still belongs to Napoli.
I have to say I’m not sure I see Arsene as that particular madman, and to be perfectly honest, I don’t think he’d be a massive improvement on Giroud anyway – plus I think Ollie deserves a bit of loyalty. Yes his play can be one dimensional, but I’m not sure Higuain offers that much of a difference to Giroud anyway. If we’re going to bring in a striker, I’d like it to be someone that allows us to play in a different way, not a relatively similar player to one we already have.
Some sources are claiming the Petr Cech saga is nearing its end, but I’ll not believe it yet. You haven’t been charged for this message.
Next up, in a fairly ridiculous (if not unexpected) turn of events, Jack Wilshere has been fined £40,000 for making a statement of fact at the FA Cup trophy parade. I wonder whether if he’d got on the mic and said “that piece of grass over there’s a bit green, innit? This bus is a bit red”, he’d also have been fined. Because those are statements of fact just as true as saying Tottenham are shit. I suppose it’s a mystery for the ages – just like it is trying to work out how long it’ll be before saying Tottenham are shit is not a statement of fact.
Sticking with Jack, and having had their bid for Raheem Sterling turned down by Liverpool, Man City are apparently to offer us less money to us for Jack. Righto.
The fixture list for next season was announced yesterday, and the Arsenal games look like this:
August
8 West Ham (H)
15 Crystal Palace (A)
22 Liverpool (H)
29 Newcastle (A)
September
12 Stoke (H)
19 Chelsea (A)
26 Leicester (A)
October
3 Man Utd (H)
17 Watford (A)
24 Everton (H)
31 Swansea (A)
November
7 Tottenham (H)
21 West Brom (A)
28 Norwich (A)
December
5 Sunderland (H)
12 Aston Villa (A)
19 Man City (H)
26 Southampton (A)
28 Bournemouth (H)
January
2 Newcastle (H)
12 Liverpool (A)
16 Stoke (A)
23 Chelsea (H)
February
2 Southampton (H)
6 Bournemouth (A)
13 Leicester (H)
27 Man Utd (A)
March
1 Swansea (H)
5 Tottenham (A)
12 West Brom (H)
19 Everton (A)
April
2 Watford (H)
9 West Ham (A)
16 Crystal Palace (H)
23 Sunderland (A)
30 Norwich (H)
May
7 Man City (A)
15 Aston Villa (H)
I don’t think there’s anything there that looks too much like a run of death, though Southampton away on Boxing Day is a bit rubbish for the travelling fans. As you can see, we start at home against West Ham, with our first really big test coming away at Chelsea on 19th September. The league is on!*
Hector Bellerin has offered the sage advice that a strong start will be important:
We didn’t do that great at the beginning of last season but we showed by the end how we can perform, that we have great players and we were really doing well as a team. So we just need to keep that momentum up for the new season and start on the right foot.
It will be really important to start strong, to let people know that we have the same way of playing last season and can get the same results.
We want people to know that we will be aggressive and that we are coming to fight for the title.
Can’t argue with that, and it’s good to hear yet another player talking about the title being the focus.
Finally for today, speaking at the kit launch the other day, Thierry Henry has warmed the hearts of Gooners everywhere by talking talking about the improvement in quality in the squad, and how the FA Cup final was a much more relaxing affair than last season’s final against Hull:
You could see right from the start [against Villa] that Arsenal were going to win the game, and that made it easier for us fans to watch – it was less nerve-racking than the year before.
So the progress is there, now what we are waiting for is the consistency in the league because that is very important. That is where you can judge a team, in the league.
That’s your lot for today. Tim Stillman’s usual column will be up later (oo-er missus!), so look out for that, and keep to date with the day’s news over on Arseblog News.
*The league may or may not be on, but it’s always good to start a season in optimistic mood.
