Arsenal To Start with a Win at Anfield?

It's Sunday, August 15, and the kick-off to Arsenal's Premier League season has arrived at last. We travel to Anfield today for a 4 pm kick-off against a Liverpool team who will be looking to impress their new manager and improve on their very poor showing last season when they finished in seventh place in the league.

The majority of the teams in the league kicked off their campaigns yesterday and the big results came from champions Chelsea and newly promoted Blackpool.

Chelsea continued on where they left off last season by putting West Brom to the sword with a 6-0 win, but the really impressive result was Blackpool's 4-0 at Wigan. If Wigan play like that for the rest of the season, they will be a Championship side next season without a shadow of a doubt. Blackpool will have a slightly tougher test next week, though, when they travel to London to take on Arsenal.

Let's start with the news that the boss has signed his contract extension as expected. I said yesterday that his comments at Friday's press conference pointed to him extending his stay and he did so yesterday by signing a three-year extension, which will bring him to the end of the 2013/14 season.

You can read his views on it here, but he basically stated his love for Arsenal and he's happy to have extended his contract and to continue the job he is doing at the moment  while the club feel the same way about him.

With the search for a new goalkeeper still the biggest worry in most fans' minds, the boss said that whoever he picks in goal today will be our first choice for the season. Despite the fact that Fulham have apparently told Schwarzer he can leave, they have also claimed that there has been no approach for him from Arsenal since May.

He didn't play in their 0-0 draw with Bolton yesterday, and Given was on the bench in City's 0-0 draw with the Spuds. Personally, I would prefer Given to join us, but I don't see that happening. If we do sign a keeper, I expect the boss to change his mind on who our first choice will be, of course.

The smart money is apparently on Fabianski to win the starting berth, but I sincerely hope that the smart money isn't too smart. With the boss more or less ruling out Szczesny, I would have to opt for the lesser of two evils and say that Almunia should play. He may not be good enough, in my opinion, but he's a lot better than Fabianski.

With so many players either injured or short of match fitness, it's hard to predict who will be playing, but the back four picks itself more or less. Sagna, Clichy, Vermaelen, and Koscielny are all sure to start and hopefully they can gel together and hold tight in front of whoever scares the hell out of us fans in goal.

Midfield is where we have another problem as the two players who are normally certainties to start haven't played at all in preseason for Arsenal. Cesc did manage half a game for Spain on Wednesday night in Mexico but Song is only just over an injury and probably won't be risked.

I have a funny feeling that Diaby will play, though although his inclusion might relegate Wilshere to the bench and that would be unfair. If Song doesn't play we will probably see Frimpong make his Premier league debut and if Cesc doesn't play we should see Nasri in midfield instead of him.

We have more more options up front, but I think RVP will probably sit this one out with Chamakh taking the central role and Walcott and Arshavin flanking him. It's a ground that Arshavin loves to play in and I'll never forget his four goals there in our 4-4 draw a couple of seasons ago. Unfortunately, I'll never forget how poor our defending was that night either.

If we can approach the game with the right attitude and play at our own tempo, I expect Liverpool to have problems coping with our pace and movement. Nasri looks like a man on a mission and he will be very important for us today. The biggest danger will be Gerrard, and not just because of his goalscoring ability but also because of his habit of "falling over."

Hopefully, whoever is in goals takes the opportunity to actually play well and inspire the players in front of him and to send a message to the boss that he wants to keep the jersey.

If Cesc and RVP don't start, I expect to see them on the bench in case of emergencies such as Liverpool winning the game. A win would be a fantastic result but a draw would be perfectly acceptable in such a tough game so early in the season. We need to play to our full potential if we are going to get that win, but as always I'm predicting Arsenal to do just that with the same 2-1 scoreline as last season and Arshavin scoring as well.

There's a very good article in The Independent in which the boss says that for years we had no money and now that we have money we cannot find players to buy. He has admitted that we are short at the back and he is trying to address it but it would seem that nobody wants to sell their best players to us and there's not a lot we can do about it.

I'll be watching the game in the Strand in Bray along with the rest of the supporters club after we have our AGM at 3 pm. I will be on the dry, though, after a few too many last night and a house to paint between now and then. I'll give a rundown of the fantasy football tomorrow but with a game on Monday night we won't get an accurate picture of what's happening until Tuesday morning.

Here's a look at our most famous victory at Anfield.

See You Tomorrow.