Arsenal Prepare "Second Take" to Season: Swansea City Up First

Arsenal's "new season" officially begins Saturday.

A torrid August (and I'm not just talking about the burning heat emanating from the London riots), which saw the Gunners manage only a solitary point from their first possible nine in Premiership play, reached a nadir with the 8-2 shellacking at Old Trafford on Aug. 28.

The situation, which had been worrisome, reached crisis mode after that debacle.

Newly-signed Gervinho and Alex Song, both first-choice starters at left wing and defensive midfielder, respectively, have missed the past two league matches after incurring three-match domestic bans for their ignominious displays in the Newcastle United match. Intrepid Twitter-er Emmanuel Frimpong drew his own one-match ban after being charged with two yellow cards at home to Liverpool on Aug. 20.

Making matters even worse, 19-year-old wunderkind Jack Wilshere was out with injury, talismanic striker Robin van Persie was in desperate need of an effective partner, and the defensive back four was in shambles.

Manager Arsene Wenger, never one to approach the transfer market with more than tepid interest, took a hard look at the current club prognosis and, eschewing past principle, went all-in over the course of the past week, snapping up five signings (Yossi Benayoun was a season-long loan) for a reported sum of around £28 million.

At least three of those newcomers—and potentially four—may well start on Saturday as Welsh side Swansea City—new to the Premiership this season—make the trip east to the Emirates.

Mikel Arteta is expected to drop into Cesc Fabregas's old role as attacking midfielder/roamer, one similar to his former post with previous club Everton.

Brazilian left-back Andre Santos, plucked from Galatasaray, may well get the nod over Kieran Gibbs, who is returning from a hamstring knock.

Center back Per Mertesacker, the gargantuan—in footballing terms—(6'6") German signing, will doubtless be expected to get his first start in the famous red-and-white kit on Saturday. His arrival takes on even greater importance with the news that Thomas Vermaelen is set to miss nearly two months after ankle surgery. He will be counted upon to make a quick transition to the speed of Premier League play, though as a defender, it will likely be a faster learning curve than if he were at another position.

Whether loanee Yossi Benayoun will get his first start is pure conjecture at this point (well, everything else is too, if you think about it), but with left winger Gervinho set to serve the third match of his ban, the Israeli international might well slot into the Ivorian's role.

He's played it in the past while with Liverpool and Chelsea, and his industrious work on that flank would definitely be more conducive to the Gunners' attacking philosophy than that of Andrei Arshavin, whose form has been (to put it nicely) indifferent of late.

Three points is the expectation, and would do wonders for a side currently mired in 17th place in the standings.

Swansea City are no pushovers, however. Don't let the 4-0 thrashing incurred at Etihad Park (formerly the Eastlands) against Manchester City on the opening weekend fool you: they battled valiantly for nearly 60 minutes of that match, before succumbing to Sergio "Kun" Aguero's massive debut.

Just as Arsenal could do little about nearly half of United's goals in that Old Trafford slaughter, no Premiership side could have stopped an Aguero possessed by that kind of mind-boggling form.

Swans keeper Michel Vorm is an impressive shot-stopper when on form, and given Arsenal's noted struggles against Udinese's Samir Handanovic—particularly in the first leg of the tie, when the Slovenian keeper kept the scoreline at 1-0 with his superb display—the Gunners might well worry about misfiring.

Embarrassing defeats suffered to Hull City (in 2008) and West Bromwich Albion (in 2010) aside, Arsenal have historically performed very well against middle-of-the-table opponents in the friendly (and always pristine) confines of the Emirates. A win should be expected, but the batch of new signees will need to be on top form.

Three days after the Swansea match, Arsenal travel to Germany to take on Borussia Dortmund in their first match of the Champions League group stage.

The prospect of Champions League football played a crucial role in sealing Arteta's signature, and all eyes will be on the former Evertonian as he makes his (likely) first appearance in CL play.

In an interesting sidenote, German youngster Mario Goetze—linked heavily with a move to Arsenal in the waning moments of the summer transfer window—plies his trade with Dortmund, and was instrumental during its run to the Bundesliga crown a season ago.

The brilliant midfielder, only 19 and already a regular call-up to Die Mannschaft for international duty, is a menace on the attack. And with a rollicking, heavily-partisan crowd behind him on Tuesday, most would peg him as capable of incurring some damage.

Arsenal have a penchant for starting the Champions League group stage with a bang (whether nerve-inducing, as was the case against AZ Alkmaar in 2009, or with aplomb, as was the case at home against Braga a season ago), and will be looking to continue that run.

Considering that Alkmaar match was also on the road, and with the short respite after the Swansea match, Wenger would do well to prepare his side to not come out flat.

It will be two games' worth of high-quality football, in the span of three days.

In a similar vein to the current situation Arsenal find themselves in, it could be much, much worse.