Before Kick-Off

After a turbulent summer for Newcastle United, which started with links to a Middle East rich group takeover and the fantasy links to Mourinho & Mbappe, the Magpies instead began the season with the all too real arrivals of Steve Bruce & Andy Carroll. The only Middle Eastern influence to look for is the Gulf in class between the new gaffer and his predecessor.

Despite this, Newcastle carried on with a recruitment strategy mirroring that of the 15/16 campaign, spending large sums on exciting, yet largely unproven forwards. With 23 league goal duo Ayoze Perez and Salomon Rondon now gone, the new boys had big shoes to fill.

Arsenal had quite a busy summer themselves. Their fanbase has been pressuring the ownership to spend some money to compliment an already existing £100m strike-force, and the Gunner’s board responded by bringing in the likes of record signing Nicolas Pepe (£72m), Kieran Tierney and David Luiz. It’s fair to say the fans seemed happy with the summer business, yet some doubts remained about the overall standard of their defence.