And so the interminable wait for club football has finally ended and what a way to resume football with the most historical and heated derby in the EPL: Arsenal vs Tottenham…Which team will take the bragging rights as the North London Derby victor?

In terms of our squad, we are facing an issue at Left-Back, yet again! Zinchenko is uncertain and so is Tierney. El Neny and ESR are out and there is a doubt about Tomy and Partey but things are looking bright for Odegaard. Tottenham is waiting for news on Lloris and Kulusevski while Davies and Moura are most likely out of the game.

Tottenham is enjoying a fine start to the season and is scoring a lot of goals. Kane is enjoying another good season while Richarlison, Kulusevski and Son are able lieutenant as well. The main improvements though is with Sessegnon, Betancur, Hojberg, Dier and Perisic providing excellent defensive resilience. If Romero is fit, he will also be able to improve on the erratic Sanchez. Their main threat remains Kane but we know that Son gives us trouble everytime so he is to be watched closely. Tottenham plays in a 3-4-3 set-up and the main areas to explore are behind their full-back and we can always rely on a Dier error too. Another area that can be exploited is if we overcrowd their midfield with our three players (Partey, Xhaka, Odegaard) so let us see.

We have to hope that Partey and Zinchenko are fit to play, otherwise we are in trouble…

Ramsdale – White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko – Partey, Xhaka – Saka, Ode, Martinelli – Gabi J.

Lloris – Romero, Dier, Lenglet – Perisic, Hojberg, Berancur, Sessegnon – Son, Kane, Richarlison

Predicted score: 2-2

Predicted number of yellow cards: 5

Predicted scorers: Martinelli and Ode (or Vieira if Ode does not play) vs Kane and Perisic.

COYG – prove me wrong and win this NLD!

So here we are, 10 days away from the NLD…A must win game as always and even more so this year given that both teams are doing well and that the winner will no matter what be ahead of its opponent after the game.

So as we prep up for next week’s game, what is your best memories of a game where we hosted the Spuds at:

• Highbury
• Emirates

COYG! Let s get excited about the NLD!

ESR had a breakthrough season least year, scoring goals and providing assists so much so that he deserverdly got an England call-up. When he is fit, he is very potent and can create chances and score chances. A good ball carrier, he is also a very good shooter but he is so injury prone still…and now it is clear that:

• Odegaard is the starter as central attacking midfield
• Martinelli is the starter at LFW
• Fabio Vieira can be used very effectively in the hole as well

So the question is simple…once fit, ESR will need playing time, which Arteta will give him but does ESR have what it takes to sustain a high level of performance and reduce the number of nagging injuries he has been plagued with? If not, is his time up at AFC? We do have a few players like Azeez, Taylor-Hart, Patino, Lokonga and even Nwareni or we could also have Lokonga play in that central position…so…i am a bit worried for ESR. I d like him to succeed with us and be our KDB / DB but at the moment it is looking bleak

Brentford 0 Arsenal 3

Ramsdale: not a lot to do but what he did, he did very well. 7

White: made his role look easy today which should not be underestimated. 7

Saliba: our French Colossus, wow what a player, was playing with authority before his goal but visibly improved after it. 8

Gabriel: another situation of making his role today look easy, many a team have come unstuck against Brentford’s attack but Big Gabbi held the line superbly. 7

Tierney: we got reminded just how much more defensive nous we get with Tierney than with Zinckenko and I am a massive fan of the Ukrainian. Easy with hindsight I know but the scot should have started against United. 7

Xhaka: Captain and rightly so; you were right Total, you were right. Granit aint going nowhere and neither should any Arsenal fan want him to do so. Superb performance today. 8

Partey: MOTM for me; controlled, not just the midfield, but orchestrated the whole game, everything went through him and had he been available I feel confident we would have won at Old Trafford. 9

Vieira: take a bow young man and can we have more goals like that please. I thought he was starting to fade towards the end of the first half but then popped up shortly after the break to give us a glimpse as to what he has in the locker, great goal and one that will last long in the memory. 8

Martinelli: he has set the bar so high if he doesn’t score it seems as though his standards have dropped. Played perfectly well for me. 7

Jesus: not been picked for the Brazil squad – GOOD, have a well-deserved rest Gabriel and come back and score more goals like that. 7

Saka: like Martinelli, has set the bar very high and without a goal he gets less song time from the away support, still exciting to watch. 7

Thanks LB!

At last, the transfer period has ended and we now know our squad. It is important here to highlight 2 key points:

• Although we did not make much money from our outgoing players, we did let a lot of players go and sometimes very elegantly like with Bellerin but some departures (AMN especially) might bight us back in the behind
• We did recruit proven EPL players, which confirms Edu-Arteta’s wish to have players that are EPL ready from the on-set but we did not manage to get 2 players we needed to complete our squad: a DM/CM and a FW. Hopefully we will be ok…

Here is our squad:

• RAMSDALE, Turner as our GK
• TOMY, Cedric at RB
• SALIBA, White, GABRIEL, Holding at CB
• ZINCHENKO, Tierney at LB
• PARTEY, El Neny, XHAKA, Sambi at DM/CM
• ODE, Emile, Vieira at CAM
• SAKA, Marquinhos, MARTINELLI, Reiss-Nelsson at FW
• JESUS, Nketiah at CF

Apparently, we are also about to extend Saka to our longer deal so this is great news for us!

Our objective is clearly to finish in the Top 4, to do well in domestic and European Cups.

Our season started well with 5 wins but we have already lost Partey (AGAIN!) and Mo to injury, which makes us thin at DM/CM. We also have let AMN go although he could have helped out in these positions and we have loaned out Patino so…We tried to get D. Luiz but unfortunately, we could not reach a deal with Villa and it seems that our interest in Tielemans cooled down in the end…As for FW, Pepe left and we let Balogun on loan. Marquinhos and RN are our back up to Saka and Martinelli and no offense to them but they are not giving the best guarantees as of yet so we may be a bit short if Saka or Martinelli get injured…luckily we have Vieira and ESR that could also deputize there but not their main role, really…

So are we well equipped or under-equipped for this season?

Exits:

• Maitland Niles most likely out to Southampton (Loan)
• Bellerin most likely out now or in January, most likely to…Barcelona (Contract to be ended)

Arrivals:

• A midfielder is wanted: Neves, Tielemans, Douglas Luiz on the radar and some interest in Merino as well
• A forward would also be welcome: Neto, Mydruck on the radar

Elsewhere:

• Auba to link back with Tuchel at Chelsea