2009/10 Season Preview + Predictions
Add comment August 14th, 2009
Well, we’re almost there. The summer has been and gone, and this afternoon we sit on the eve of the football season once more.
I am absurdly excited. I have set aside the entirety of tomorrow to indulge in football-based goodness. It’ll start early with Soccer AM, take in as much live action as possible, and quite probably end in some form of takeaway in front of Match of the Day. It’s going to be perfect.
Will it be a perfect season for Arsenal? Unlikely, I fear. If you listen to today’s arsecast you’ll hear me state that I don’t believe Arsenal are capable of winning the league. That said, I’m more than optimistic about our chances of finishing in the top four, whatever Sky Sports might imply.
So that’s my first prediction, I suppose. Arsenal will finish in the Champions League places, as will United, Chelsea, and Liverpool. City will have their moments, yes; but it’s not yet their time.
Will we compete for trophies? That, I believe, depends on what happens between now and the end of the transfer window. At the moment we just don’t have the squad depth to sustain a challenge. The fact that we’re already just two injuries away from fielding both Mikael Silvestre and Vito Mannone is demonstrative of just how fragile we are in certain areas. Arsene was still being evasive when asked about the possibility of new signings today, and I’m not convinced there’ll be major additions.
That said, Thomas Vermaelen (who is set to make his debut at Goodison Park tomorrow) is a genuine new face in our starting line-up, and will hopefully help to arrest our defensive decline. I think his aggresive style will swiftly make him a fan favourite.
Perhaps the biggest change this season will not be in personnel, but in the system we regularly employ. I’m confident that tomorrow will see the start of us regularly using the new 4-3-3 system, and I’m sure that it’ll prove more succcessful than our recent stabs at 4-4-2 and 4-5-1.
Any success we have this season will be dependent on the form of Cesc Fabregas and Andrey Arshavin. Whilst we have other outstanding players – Robin van Persie springs immediately to mind – it is the diminuitive schemers who will shape our season. If they gel quickly and hit the ground running, we will be hard to stop.
This is turning into a right old ramble, so let’s break it down into some bullety, punchy predictions. I don’t usually do this, but I figure that eventually one has to put one’s head on the block. If a single one of these predictions turn out to be incorrect, I will close down the blog forever and replace it with a picture of myself kissing a horse*.
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Arsenal Predictions:
- Without significant squad additions, we will finish fourth
- Robin van Persie will end as our top scorer
- RVP, Nicklas Bendtner, Eduardo, Andrey Arshavin, and Cesc Fabregas will all get into double figures for goals
- Denilson will play less games but play them significantly better than his jaded performances last season
- Vermaelen and Gallas will be an infinitely better partnership than Toure and Gallas
- Injuries will decimate our defence
- We will reach a semi-final
- Nicklas Bendtner will be the most positive surprise of the season
Nothing hugely controversial there, but there you have it. In the wider world of football…
Other predictions:
- Chelsea will win the league
- Frank Lampard will be the Player of the Year
- Wolves, Portsmouth & Burnley will go down
- Brazil will, against the odds, win the World Cup
Cool, that’s all for now. I’d be interested to read your predictions in The Guns.
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*I had my fingers crossed whilst I typed this, which a) was difficult and b) nullifies any promise made.
