A new season, a fresh start and boy am I raring to go!
Arsenal kick off the 2012-13 Premier League campaign with a match against Martin O'Neill's Sunderland at the Emirates today. Some exciting new faces have arrived, while some old faces have departed the club (and some are on their way as we speak).
Nevertheless, Arsenal remains as always and as a Gooner, I haven't been this excited for the start of the season in a long time. No point crying over those who left(read: betrayed) us and instead we should focus on the players who are going to represent the red and white this season.
Thomas Vermaelen and Mikel Arteta have been named captain and vice-captain respectively and I hope we see a disciplined effort from our team. Of course I'm also looking forward to the flair brought by our new signings and I hope we can maintain the balance of flair and discipline.
Last season, we did the double over Sunderland in the league but they also knocked us out of the FA cup in our last encounter. Martin O'Neill will surely try to emulate that performance when they pressed us relentlessly and forced us into making mistakes. The midfield battle will be key today and it is up to our forwards to take their chances when they come.
Team Line Ups:
Arsenal(4-2-3-1): Wojciech Szczesny, Carl Jenkinson, Per Mertesacker, Thomas Vermaelen, Kieran Gibbs, Mikel Arteta, Abou Diaby, Theo Walcott, Santi Cazorla, Gervinho, Lukas Podolski.
Substitutes: Vito Mannone, Andre Santos, Johan Djourou, Francis Coquelin, Aaron Ramsey, Andrei Arshavin, Olivier Giroud.
Manager: Arsene Wenger.
Sunderland(4-4-1-1): Simon Mignolet, Craig Gardner, John O'Shea, Carlos Cuellar, Kieran Richardson, Sebastian Larsson, Lee Cattermole, Jack Colback, James McClean, Stephane Sessegnon, Frazier Campbell.
Substitutes: Kieran Westwood, Titus Bramble, David Meyler, Matthew Kigallon, Ahmed Elmohamady, Connor Wickham, Louis Saha.
Manager: Martin O'Neill.
COME ON ARSENAL!!!
