Arsenal seem to go from strength to strength. Sure enough, missing out on the Premier League title at the end of last season was a huge disappointment, but the energy harnessed by that experience, Mikel Arteta has already said, is to be used to take them that extra final step, this time around.
By Ian King
If they are to do so, of course, they absolutely have to win matches like this. The bar for winning the league is sufficiently high to preclude dropping points in matches like these as a viable option for title winners.
Summer transfer market activity was brisk but effective. The big new signing, Riccardo Calafiori, will only further strengthen a defence stingy enough to have only conceded 29 league goals all season, last time around. In the other direction, Emile Smith Rowe never quite worked out in the way that it was evident all sides of that equation really wanted it to. Fulham does feel like a good fit for him.
Even their pre-season seemed more serene than some of their contemporaries. They lost a penalty shootout at the end of a match against Manchester United that they’d already won (no, me either) and lost narrowly to Liverpool, but otherwise there were encouraging performances in wins against both Bayer Leverkusen and Lyon. They seem in good condition.
Of all the twenty teams starting the 2024/25 season, none have a run that they need to end more than Wolverhampton Wanderers. Wolves picked up just five points from their last ten games of last season, and with their next five matches including games against Chelsea, Newcastle United, Aston Villa and Liverpool, they have an extremely tough start.
This time last year, Wolves had just lost Jolen Lopetegui at the end of a summer during which they’d lost two really key players. Last year it was Rúben Neves and Matheus Nunes. This year it’s been Pedro Neto and captain Max Kilman.
Transfer activity, meanwhile, has been fairly modest with just £25m having been spent on Tommy Doyle of Manchester City and two spins of Jorge Mendes’ Random Portuguese Name Generator; Pedro Lima from Sport Recife and Rodrigo Gomes from Braga.
The last time Arsenal kicked off the new season at home at 3.00 on a Saturday afternoon, they were beaten 3-1 at home by Aston Villa in 2013. It’s the hope that will be keeping Wolves alive, as they head into a difficult start to the season.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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