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I don’t want to be an Emirates party-pooper, as I tipped Arsenal to do well this season, in the midst of the Wenger summer madness.

But I fear that madness is swinging from unhealthy pessimism into unhealthy optimism.

People have actually been heard phoning radio stations to declare that this Mezut Ozil-inspired side could win more points in 2013-14 than they did in 2003-04 when they went unbeaten.

Oh dear.

As brilliantly as the Gunners and Ozil are doing, they’ve yet to hit a truly tough run of fixtures.

Indeed, even if they win at West Brom tomorrow and beat Norwich in a fortnight they will still have picked up three points less than in last season’s corresponding number of fixtures, when they beat Aston Villa, Spurs, Stoke and Norwich at home and Fulham, Sunderland, Swansea and West Brom away.

It’s after that came against the Canaries, when they face Chelsea, Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund and Manchester United in the space of 12 days that a truer picture may emerge of how good this side is.

Only when they’ve put those four to the sword can the fans start dreaming that they’re looking at ‘The Invincozils’.

Moneybags' cast-offs on form

Bookies would have given long odds that, by October, Chelsea and Manchester City would be ousted from the top four by Liverpool and Everton.

But it’s happened.

So who are the new faces making the difference?

Well, so far, Liverpool’s best outfield summer signings are Kolo Toure and Victor Moses, while Everton’s are Romelu Lukaku and Gareth Barry.

All four picked up for nothing.

From Manchester City and Chelsea.

What’s that saying about having more money than sense?

Linos are not up to scratch

(Image: Getty)

So, Fernando Torres escaped proper punishment for scratching Jan Vertonghen’s face because the FA ruled “one of the match officials saw the coming together of the two players, albeit not in its entirety.”

In other words, everyone watched it on TV, including us, but because the linesman didn’t fully see it, we can’t do anything, even though we set up an independent review panel specifically for incidents like this.

Those of us who consistently watch the Premier League won’t be surprised by this cop-out.

Because we know that whatever game we go to this weekend, a linesman will get at least one crucial decision wrong which could change the game.

But the authorities won’t do anything about it. Including getting better linesmen.

It’s called being allowed to be blind.

Bruce the Cats' whiskers

When Steve Bruce sits down to watch today’s tea-time match on Sky, his Hull side could be up to fifth.

If so, who could begrudge his large cranium being split with a grin as wide as the Tyne, as he watches Sunderland struggling to get something out of their game against Manchester United.

That's the same Sunderland who sacked him less than two years ago and who now sit, managerless, at the bottom of the table.

Twelve points behind Hull.

Pep is quickly on his bike

(Image: Getty)

Study the history of the European Cup and you will see club dominance goes in cycles.

You never know if a new cycle is beginning, so when Bayern Munich won the competition in May no one could be sure if the order was about to change.

But watching Pep Guardiola orchestrate Bayern’s destruction of Manchester City, there’s a very good chance we’re in a new, post-Barcelona cycle.

Click here for Brian Reade comparing David Moyes to Hodgson at Liverpool.