Arsenal kick-start their Premier League season on Sunday when they host Manchester City at the Emirates. Pep Guardiola's Champions are sure to be a very tough first test for the Gunners' new head coach Unai Emery, so let's have a look at how he's prepared this summer and what it could mean for Arsenal's hopes of success this season.





The end of an era...





After 22 years at the Arsenal, Wenger has left. He's gone. He's finally "out". Arsene won 3 Premier League titles, 7 FA Cups, 7 Community Shields whilst becoming the biggest Arsenal legend of all time. He made Premier League history, creating the iconic Invincibles team and perhaps overlooked 2001/02 Champions who scored in every league game and went unbeaten away from home. Wenger also guided Arsenal to 4 major European semi finals. In the 2005/06 Champions League campaign Arsenal were very solid defensively and progressed with a memorable round of 16 match vs Real Madrid in 2006 when Henry scored at the Bernabeu. The Gunners eventually made it to the Champions League final against Barcelona which they ultimately lost.

Arsenal went without a trophy for 11 years, but Wenger achieved so much

in that period





However, one of The Professor's greatest ever achievements is hardly spoken about. Whilst he oversaw our transition from Highbury to the Emirates Stadium, Wenger incredibly managed to deliver Champions League football every year when he had a very limited budget due to the stadium being paid for. Up until around 2012, he pulled off miracles. Chamakh, Bentdner, Almunia, Frimpong and Eboue were all players that got us into the Champions League! If you compare that to the squad we have now, it's quite embarrassing that we're still only in the Europa League. We needed him then, but all good things come to an end so it was the right time to go, if not a few years too late. Arsene: Thank you for everything. Thank you for the memories you have given me all throughout my childhood. Thank you for being the man that made me think Arsenal were named after "Arsene". Thank you for Wenger Ball. Thank you for firing up the team at my first ever game so we won 4-3 against Leicester. And thank you for developing my favourite footballers at the famous Arsenal- Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, Vieira, Fabregas, Van Persie, Cazorla, Ozil, *cough* even Alexis *cough*. It's been an absolute rollercoaster and it's the end of an era, Merci Arsene.





And the dawn of a new one!





So it's fair to say the new head coach Unai Emery is unlikely to stay that long and achieve that much. Unai represents Arsenal catching up with the modern game. He will not be given decades at the club; managers seem to change more frequently than Pogba changes his hairstyle nowadays. His short term goal is to get Arsenal back into the top 4 and then in the long term to be challenging for the title again. Whether he'll manage to achieve these goals is uncertain at the moment, but as I've said before, I'll back him and give him time regardless of what happens. Taking over from Wenger was always going to be a monumental task, yet it's been made even more difficult by the reported lack of financial support Stan Kroenke has given Emery. However, the Spaniard hasn't had a disastrous start to life at Arsenal...





Transfers:





Signings:





Stephan Lichtsteiner: The 34 year old right back joined us on a free from Juventus after his contract ran out. Experienced. Tough. Not afraid of a fight. He's a defender that could help Bellerin flourish, while also providing good back up for when Hector is out of form or unfit. It could be that Lichtsteiner plays in the Europa League and League Cup until we potentially get into the latter, more important stages. From what I've seen of him in pre-season, he's looked better than Hector- who has had some poor games- so Emery might be inclined to starting him against City on Sunday.





Bernd Leno: It's no secret that Petr Cech was poor last season, therefore getting a better goalie was one of Unai's priorities this summer. The purchase of Leno from Leverkusen is an indicator of the limited budget Arsenal have, like some of the other signings have been. We reportedly signed him for around £20m, which isn't a lot for a number one goalkeeper when you compare it to Alisson and Kepa's astronomical figures for Liverpool and Chelsea respectively. I still think he will be a decent keeper because although he also made a lot of mistakes last season, he is 26 years old so he has time to improve, unlike Cech. For me, he has to start on Sunday.





Arsenal conceded a lot of silly goals because of Cech last season,

will Leno be better?

This centre back does not have time on his side. He is 30 years old which means we're likely to only get a couple of quality seasons out of him. However, at the moment I think that's what we need- short term solutions to just

We're acquiring players to immediately get us back into the Champions League, whilst investing in younger players so that they will flourish once we compete at the top level of Europe again. Sokratis is by no means one of the world's best, again we seemingly don't have the funds to afford top quality players, but he has experience, is a toughnut and supposedly a leader. With Koscielny injured we needed a knowledgeable centre half, so we got one in Sokratis. The question is who do we pair him with? Mustafi? He's a liability. Holding? He's a young player that has shown his inexperience in the past. Or Mavropanos? He's a Greek who could mature under the guidance of Sokratis, but is still very young and unproven. Oh maybe Chambers, he was good towards the end of last season and is a bit older than the others! Oh wait...we loaned him out to Fulham so it looks like we could be relying on the youth if Mustafi has another shocking season.





Now this is the signing you should be excited about. Torreira was very good last season for Sampdoria and had a great World Cup. He's also what Arsenal have been missing for years, a proper defensive midfielder. Granit Xhaka was supposed to be that but it seems like he's more of a deep lying ball player. Lucas gets stuck into tackles, makes good interceptions and can take set pieces, so I'm really excited to see him this season. I think it's a no brainer that he has to start on Sunday, the headache is whether we should play him with Ramsey or Xhaka, or even both and drop Mkhitaryan. Xhaka had a solid end to the last season and an alright World Cup, but Ramsey brings an added attacking threat and we're trying to tie him down to a new contract, so personally I think we should play Rambo and Torreira as the central midfielders in a 4-2-3-1 formation.









Matteo Guendouzi: Remember the name. The young Frenchman has had a brilliant pre-season with the Gunners and looks like a quality find by our scout Sven Mislintat. Guendouzi's passing has been elite and he has gelled well with the rest of the squad with the help of Lacazette and Aubameyang. He's even challenging Ramsey and Xhaka for a place in the first team. At the moment I would just play it safe and go for experience, there will be plenty of chances over the course of the season to give him a place in the starting 11.





Sales, Loans and Major Releases (so far):





Per Mertesacker: The BFG has retired, but will remain at the club as Arsenal's Academy Manager. I think Per suits this role, he's a friendly guy and experienced player that is liked around the club. Good luck Per!





Santi Cazorla: The last year has seen many players from the 2012-2015 era leave the club and the Spanish Magician was arguably the best player from those years when he was fit. Without Cazorla we fell apart and I think if he hadn't got injured, in 2016 we could have won the title. I'm sad to see him go to Villareal, but I understand that he wants to play one or two more seasons before he retires and Arsenal don't want to gamble that he won't get injured again. Thank you for everything you've done for the club Santi, you will be remembered very fondly!





A magical reveal for a magical player

One wonders whether Takuma will ever play for Arsenal. He's gone out on loan to Hannover 96, good luck!





Jack Wilshere: Jack leaving the club is fitting for the dawn of a new era. He was a player that was developed by Wenger and had a lot of faith put in him. With Unai Emery there seems to be a removal of sentimentality at the club, which isn't a bad thing. Far too many times Arsene held back from replacing players whose fitness was unreliable, just because he was adamant they could recover. I think Jack could do well at West Ham and deserves a chance to prove himself. I'd like to see him return to the England team so hopefully the Hammers can help him get weekly first team football. Thank you for trying so hard at the club Jack, you have shown great mental strength to come back from injuries and a loan spell to fight for your place at Arsenal, and I'm sorry it didn't end up working out.





West Ham have signed Wilshere for free

Chuba has joined the Greek club PAOK on a permanent transfer. He never managed to break into the first team at Arsenal, instead being sent out on loan every season. I think it's the right time for him to leave and at just 22 years old he still could do well. All the best Chuba!





Jeff Reine-Adelaide: Jeff has been sold to Angers, the club where he spent the second half of last season on loan. I'm not sure this is the right move but "in Emery we trust", so good luck Jeff!





Calum Chambers: Speaking of wrong moves, these next two deals are very frustrating. I wrote a blog saying we needed another centre back after we signed Sokratis. I said we couldn't rely on the youth should Mustafi be poor again, and that one of the young centre halves should be sent out on loan. So Arsenal have given Calum Chambers to Fulham for this season and not managed to sign anyone else. Now we are left with Sokratis and Mustafi as the only fairly experienced centre backs at the club until Koscielny returns from injury. It's worrying, but now we just need to get behind the team and trust Emery, you can't solve every single problem in the squad in one transfer window!





Chambers has joined Fulham on loan in a move which has confused

many Gooners

Lucas Perez: We've sold Lucas to West Ham for a reported £4m + £1m add ons. Selling him and keeping Welbz is painful enough but we've practically donated him to West Ham! I'm very annoyed that Perez never got the chance to prove himself at Arsenal. He joined us in 2016 and seemed to have an impact every time he played for us, just to be benched for most of the season then loaned out last summer. I feel really sorry for him because he could have been a good option to bring off the bench and play in the Europa League. Sorry it had to end this way Lucas!





West Ham again?!

Pre-Season:





Arsenal have had a pretty good summer! In our first friendly we smashed eight past Boreham Wood, with Aubameyang getting a hat-trick and a beautiful curler of a first goal. We then began our tour in Singapore in the "International Champions Cup", dominating Atletico Madrid but conceding right at the end of the first half. We were quick out of the blocks in the second half however, with Emile Smith-Rowe hitting an absolute beauty into the top corner in the 47th minute. More on him in a minute...





Emile Smith-Rowe, remember the name





We ended up losing on penalties, in all honesty we were very poor from 12 yards and fully deserved it. In our next game we played a young PSG team and, as expected, won comfortably with Lacazette getting a brace and Ozil, Holding and Nketiah scoring the rest. Holding's header was particularly good, so make sure you watch that if you haven't had the chance yet!





The Gunners then travelled to Dublin to play Chelsea. The Blues, like us, have a new manager after Sarri replaced Conte. We didn't play too well, conceding after just 5 minutes from a corner, but we showed resilience and determination to draw level in the 90th minute through a Lacazette tap in. The Arsenal then went on to win on penalties, with all 6 of our takers scoring. The following Saturday we faced Lazio in Sweden, who were in good form having scored FORTY goals in 4 pre-season friendlies. That didn't faze the Arsenal boys though, easing to a 2-0 win through goals from Nelson and Aubameyang.





So we're still unbeaten in 90 minutes in official games under Emery! (We reportedly lost to Brentford in a behind closed doors friendly in July) I think it's been great to see Unai experimenting with formations and the youth, which I suppose is what pre-season is for!





Best Player:

My personal favourite player to watch has been Matteo Guendouzi. As I mentioned earlier his passing has been exquisite and he's shown a level of maturity to control games that you wouldn't expect from someone so young and new to the club. If he keeps up these performances we could have a very special player on our hands.





Move over Elneny, there's a new long haired midfielder at Arsenal





Breakout Star:

If you watched him last season then Emile Smith-Rowe's quality in pre-season might not have come as a surprise to you. He was very good for the under 18s and 23s last year, and continued this in pre-season. He's looked confident and hard working, and at only 18 years old he's definitely one to watch for the future. I would like to see Unai play lads like Smith-Rowe and Nelson in the Europa League to give them some game time.





My thoughts and predictions:





Unai Emery has prepared well this summer, but the last week has really kicked everyone in the teeth. Silent Stan announced he would be buying Usmanov's share and attempting to gain 100% control of the club by buying out fans' shares. It's worrying because we don't know if the loan Stan took out of Deutsche Bank will need to be paid off using the club's funds. I can see riots against Kroenke when he does buy out Usmanov, because our signings this summer have reflected a lack of support from Stan.





I'm Kroenke Out, but we can't let it harm our season





The loan of Chambers and sale of Perez have also frustrated fans, but we CANNOT let this affect the team! Just a few weeks ago there seemed to be so much positivity around Arsenal and there still should be! If you were to offer a Gooner the team, staff and manager we have now this time last season, everyone would have snatched at it. We've brought in Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan, Torreira, Sokratis, Leno and Emery all over two transfer windows! This is whilst tying down important young players to new contracts and changing the whole mood around the club. I think if we allow Unai and the rest of the recruitment staff a couple more windows, we might have a really good squad that can challenge for the title. So what will this mean for our season?





Premier League: I think the squad is capable of getting into the top 4 this season. We've hopefully reduced the number of mistakes we will make at the back by bringing in Torreira, Sokratis, Leno and Lichtsteiner, and if we can improve on our away form we should be able to pick up enough points to get back into the Champions League. Our opening month will be very difficult, I can tell you that now. We play City at home on Sunday, then Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. If that's not tough enough we have to play West Ham at the Emirates, who have improved their squad massively, before travelling to Cardiff for what will hopefully be a good win.





Make a note of it, the first North London derby is on 1st December





December also looks like a tough month, with congested fixtures, Spurs and Man Utd consecutively and Liverpool on the 29th. However, we have an easy end to the season ON PAPER. After Man Utd on 9th March, we play teams which we

not lose to, which could massively help our push for the top 4.





EDIT: I'm not sure why this next part has gone really small, I can't seem to change it even when I make the font size bigger!





MY VERDICT: 4TH





Europa League: I've stated my opinion on this competition before- it's good to have as a back up option should we struggle in the league. The group stages and early knockout stages should not require too many first team players, so I'd like to see Emery play a mix of youth, older and second team players.





MY VERDICT: Should Emery prioritise it like he did at Sevilla then we should win it, if not then I can see us making it to the semi-finals again





Other Cups: A trophy in his first season would be very nice for Emery, but it should not be a massive deal. Like with the Europa League, I'd like to see the youth players get some game time in the Carabao Cup. The FA Cup and its history with us should be respected though. We should try to get a cup run going, but not to the point where it affects our performance in the league.





MY VERDICT: We're unlikely to win the Carabao or FA Cup. This doesn't matter because getting back into the Champions League is our priority this season.





Top Scorer: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The Gabonese attacker can play at striker and left wing, and given how he started his Arsenal career (10 goals in just 13 league games), I think he'll chip in with many goals this season. Lacazette could also have a fantastic season though so watch this space!





I'm predicting these two to have VERY good seasons

Player of the Season: Mesut Ozil. I think Emery is going to make Mesut one of the best players in the league again. He will have to adapt his style of play slightly to suit Emery's pressing game, but the German creates so many chances and this year he has three quality attackers that can finish them. I really hope it works out for Mesut too, because after the slander he got for his "poor" World Cup I don't want to see him slated by his own fans.





Young Player of the Season (U21): Matteo Guendouzi. If he keeps playing well I don't see any reason why he can't be starting in the league for us towards the end of the season. I promised myself I wouldn't get too hyped up too soon...oops!





What to expect from me:





I am going to the University of Lincoln to study Journalism and I'll be starting in the middle of September. I should be able to continue doing the blog weekly, because I will learn more about how to write match reports and then I'll be able to practise on here. I put a lot of time and effort into this week's blog so I hope you all enjoyed it, if you did please comment saying what you enjoyed and what your predictions are for this season! COME ON YOU GUNNERS!











