Arsenal's New Season Starts Tomorrow With a Trip to Barnet

Friday morning is upon us, and after what seems like a year, but is in reality the best part of seven weeks, I'm finally back to work after catching up with most of the holidays I was owed.

Of course, Friday is also the start of the weekend and after I've played football tonight, I can sit back, relax, and ponder the return of the football season.

Arsenal play their first preseason friendly tomorrow with the traditional curtain raiser away to Barnet.

I listed a few of the first-team players who might make an appearance at some stage yesterday and with the talented younger players at our disposal as well, it should be quite a strong side.

As far as I know, the new home kit is not officially on sale yet and I would imagine that Arsenal might be wearing the away kit tomorrow as it can be bought. 

Following up on tomorrow's game, Arsenal are off to their usual preseason training site of Austria and they will have another couple of friendlies against Sturm Graz and Neusiedl 1919 while they are over there.

All three of those matches can be watched on Arsenal TV online for the princely sum of £3 for the lot and if you're missing your dose of Arsenal, it's not a bad deal at all.

After that, it's back to Ashburton Grove for the Emirates Cup and the games against AC Milan and Celtic, before flying out to Poland to play Legia Warsaw in our final friendly game.

Eight days after that, it's a trip to Anfield as the Premier League season kicks off against one of the teams who will be hoping to knock us out of our prized position in the top four.

I would imagine that some of the players who were on World Cup duty will start to join up with the squad in Austria, as the French players, Eboue, Song, and Bendtner all went on their holidays at the end of the group stage.

Vela followed them soon afterwards, but Cesc and RVP have only just started their break. The chances are that both Bendtner and Vela, are injured which immediately decreases our striking options and lessens the possibility of Eduardo going anywhere at the moment, but we should know very soon.

Our summer may have been a little turbulent so far, but Liverpool's problems are far worse and run a lot deeper. With Torres injured again in the World Cup final and Chelsea sniffing around him, they don't have another striker of any note at the club.

As well as that, Gerrard is supposedly being chased by Real Madrid, and Liverpool are up to their necks in debt. Their manager "left by mutual consent" and Roy Hodgson has his work cut out turning them into any sort of a team.

Added to that, Mascherano has made it fairly clear that he would like a move too and Benyaoun has been sold to Chelsea.

We were also treated to the news that Thierry Henry is to ply his trade in America next season as he plays for the New York Red Bulls in the MLS.

At only 32, he has decided to turn his back on European football, and I would imagine that it might be the end of his international career, too.

After performing so disappointingly at the World Cup and the previous European championships, France have at last dumped Domenech and I'm sure the new manager will look to usher in the next generation of French footballers.

Europe's loss is America's gain. and even though he may be past his best, he still has a lot to offer. If all goes to plan for him, his first game for them will be against the Spuds next week.

On browsing through the player profiles on the club site, it's odd to see Gallas, Silvestre and Campbell still listed as Arsenal players, but from what I understand of it they will remain so until they sign for another club despite the fact that their contracts at Arsenal have finished.

Our defensive options would certainly look limited if all three were removed, but hopefully at least two of them will be gone very soon.

What Campbell decides to do is anybody's guess, but I certainly don't want to see Silvestre at the club this season and Gallas has burned his bridges at this stage.

The only player I can find linked with Arsenal today is 17-year-old Conor Wickham of Ipswich, who we are believed to be in a £7 million battle with the Spuds to acquire.

How this will make Benik Afobe, who partnered him in England's successful under-17 team feel, I'm not sure...but he hasn't signed yet, and who knows if he will.

Apparently, today is the day that Barcelona want the "Cesc situation" resolved, and they have said they will move on to other targets if that's not the case.

It means we can wake up tomorrow morning safe in the knowledge that Cesc is an Arsenal player for another season at least as long as they stick to their word.

Of course, we all know exactly how much dignity and respect Barcelona have for Arsenal or anybody else for that matter and exactly how much their word is worth. 

I'll say no more on the matter for the moment, but I expect to hear plenty more from Barcelona.

For anybody who plays fantasy football I'm running a league again this year, and there will be a trophy if I can get 100 teams in the league.

When I checked last night there were 31 teams, but with over four weeks, to go I am confident that I can reach the 100 mark. The link for the game is here and the code to join my league is 33954-12064.

If you're reading this on Bleacher Report, I hope it doesn't offend you, as one person seemed to be offended by me asking people to join up and daring to post a link yesterday. That's it for today.

Here's to a few goals from a very unlikely source: Lee Dixon.

See You Tomorrow.