The stage is set at the Emirates on Saturday as Arsenal welcome Nottingham Forest for the first Premier League game of the season, so let’s take a look at the latest team news.
Mikel Arteta will come into this weekend full of confidence after winning the Community Shield last week. Getting the better of Manchester City was a huge statement of intent and that shows just what this squad is capable of doing.
The only players that will be missing from the match day squad are going to be striker Gabriel Jesus and midfielder Mohamed Elneny. He is recovering from a knee injury, and it will be a few more weeks before we see him in action. The good news for Arteta is that there are other options that he can make use of.
One bit of good news is that Alex Zinchenko will be available for selection after missing out on the Community Shield. He is likely to slot in for Jurrien Timber as the left back and it will be interesting to see how the north Londoners construct their build-up.
Arsenal Fever View:
The game against Forest is a great opportunity to start on the right note playing in front of the home crowd. Arteta will want his players to be on the front foot and take the game to the visitors. With the players they have, a win should be a given.
Though Forest will be expected to be beaten, they do have some good talents in their ranks. The home defence must be careful when dealing with the likes of Brennan Johnson and Morgan Gibbs-White as they can cause real damage.
It will be interesting to see how the new signings such as Declan Rice and Kai Havertz slot into this team. The signs in pre-sesaon have been promising and carrying that into the Premier League is important.
Arsenal will know the highs and lows that are going to come this season but a win in the first match can be a real boost. The Gunners have what it takes to get a comfortable win and doing so in front of the Emirates will give the fans something more to cheer about.
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