Cesc Fabregas Loves Arsenal

The new season is finally upon us as the Premier league kicks off at 12:45 pm today with the Spuds against Man City. There are seven more games today before the real business starts tomorrow with Arsenal's trip to Anfield to take on Liverpool.

Ahead of that game, the boss had the first weekly press conference of the season yesterday and he had a fair deal to say for himself. First of all he said that his future will be sorted out very soon and he confirmed that he has been offered a new deal by the club. From what he said it seems pretty clear that his intentions are to sign the contract and finish the work he has started with the current squad. 

He also spoke of the players that are available for Sunday's game and whether they are match fit or not. Despite earlier reports to the contrary Diaby is available for selection and Song and Denilson are both in training and could well make the trip too.

Cesc played 45 minutes for Spain on Wednesday night and RVP has been in training since his return from World Cup final duty. He did say that it might be possible to take a gamble on one or two players but when the league championship begins you need players who are match fit.

He confirmed that the central defensive pairing will be Vermaelen and Koscielny but with Djourou injured he doesn't have any other options available to him. It's a big game for Koscielny as it's his competitive debut for Arsenal but at least it looks like Torres won't be playing which should make things easier for him.

When asked about the current goalkeeping situation, he said that there was no point in going into speculation about possible transfers. He will make his mind up on Sunday afternoon about who will get the nod in goal but the general consensus is that Fabianski is the favourite to play.

It's a decision I will find difficult to understand if Fabianski plays as I think he's just not up to the task. I'm not particularly fond of Almunia either but I think he has to be the best option unless the boss decides to opt for Szczesny.

The boss also spoke of Cesc's love for Arsenal and he said that despite all the stories his love for the club was never under threat. He said that he could understand that Cesc was torn between Barcelona and staying at Arsenal but that his attitude has been spot on since his return. I'm sure we will see an even better Cesc this season than we did last season and if we don't win any trophies it will not be down to his efforts or lack thereof.

There are little or no transfer rumours around today and the Schwarzer situation seems no clearer to a resolution despite the fact that he wants to join us. I'm sure we won't get Given as City are hardly likely to sell him to a team that they hope to be challenging.

If there is a fire sale at City at the end of the month I wonder will City refuse to sell to clubs that they see as rivals. If that is the case they will hardly get a decent price for the unneeded and unwanted players in their squad.

The fantasy football kicks off today as well obviously with the window for picking your final selection set at 11:30 am BST and don't forget to check that your team is as you want it before then. Once you have a team selected before the competition starts you can join in any leagues at a later stage and your points will count from the start.

Feel free to join me and more than 500 in my fantasy league and there will be trophies for the first three teams. If you want to sign up, the link is here and the code to join my league is 33954-12064 after you have set up a team. 

I'm running the league this season with a little help from 11Gunners and I'd like to thank them for their help in promoting my blog and the fantasy league too.

I'm also running a results prediction league on "I know the score" which is a part of the Fantasy Premier league site. Here's the link to sign up and make your predictions and the code to join my league is  FBE3B-ZGP if anybody would like to try their hand at it. You can see my predictions here and if you have a team in any of my games or leagues good luck.

Here's a look at Arshavin's winning goal at Anfield last season.

See You Tomorrow.