Arsenal fans were upbeat ahead of the season’s opening game last weekend. An above expectation second place, staying in the title hunt deep into the season and a number of high class signings have maintained the momentum and positivity around N1.
To get the inside look on the Arsenal fan perspective, I caught up with lifelong Arsenal fan, Sulayman Desai.
TEB – So Sulayman, how are Arsenal fans feeling at the moment? Pretty good I’d imagine?
SD – Quietly confident. I think we’ve made some great signings and crucially completed our business early. It means our team has had time to settle in and we should be able to have a strong start to the season like last year.
After the highs of last season and unfortunate ending, everyone is excited to restart and kick on. We’ve developed such a strong bond with the team and there’s a two way trust where we know they’ll fight in every game until the last minute, and we’re fully committed in supporting them.
TEB – Is the realistic ambition top four or challenging for the title again ? Do you care about Europe?
SD – Definitely challenging for the title! We have to build on last season and now a title charge is the expectation. There’s a belief that we’ve strengthened our squad and City have slightly weakened.
Champions League, I’m not sure I have any expectations. As long as we make it to the quarter finals and we show some fight, it’ll be a success. We’ve been out of the competition for so long, it’s hard to predict how well we’re going to do.
We had no Europe last season as well so it’s going to be interesting to adapt to midweek games again and knockout football.
TEB – How similar or different is this team to last season’s? Just some upgrades e.g. Rice, or is it a fundamentally different set up?
SD – Judging by pre-season, I think the starting eleven hasn’t changed much apart from the introduction of Rice for Partey and Havertz for Xhaka. Both look like definite upgrades, with Rice being able to cover way more ground and allowing us to play higher up the pitch, and Havertz being more piercing up front with his exploitation of space.
In pre-season we haven’t been able to see a settled starting eleven. What our signings indicate is even more flexibility in how we line up. Whatever the team in front of us or the game state demands, will determine who is on the pitch. Whether we play Rice and Partey, or just one of them. If we start with four centre backs or with inverted full-backs. Every player in our squad is of such a high quality, it means we can really switch things up and be unpredictable.
At times we’ll look like a very similar team to last year, but I do think when we need to be a little more attacking, or a little more defensive, we have an added adaptability that will allow us to achieve more results.
The main thing is, we have more games, so we need a deeper squad, which I think we have now. Every position has competition, even in goal. The last couple seasons, we’ve suffered collapses, mainly from the loss of key personnel (usually in defence), and we’ve shored up that part of the team to prevent that from happening again.
TEB – How would you describe your style of play and predictions on the likely formation/line up?
SD – Expect us to always try to be on the front foot. It’s hard to predict who will start as we have so many options. I imagine at Selhurst Park, we’ll expect quite a physical test at an away ground, so we’ll be a little more conservative with Rice and Partey starting together. Other than that, it really is going to be a surprise over the next few weeks how Arteta changes the team depending on the opposition. The first game of the season caught us all out with who started.
TEB – Who’s your likely star of the season? Still star boy Saka ?
SD – I think Saka, Martinelli and Odegaard will continue their great form from last season. Just to be more original, I’m really excited for Havertz. I felt, in the position we were looking at, we could have signed many players from around the world. Arsenal are an attractive team to play for currently. Yet, Arteta chose Havertz for £60million. There must have been a reason. From the few times we’ve seen him, he’s really exploiting the space, and playing direct football. I think he’ll be key in helping us break down low-blocks this season. I’m expecting 10-15 goals from him at least.
TEB – What are your views on Palace for the season?
SD – I feel Palace have played it safe by going with Roy again. It’ll be interesting how you adapt without Wilfried Zaha. I think you have enough young talent to still comfortably survive relegation, but I’m not super confident you’ll break into the top ten. You’ll be organised, difficult to play against, and will score goals, but won’t exhibit anything outstanding. For Palace to kick on, I think you need a more ambitious coach.
TEB – One Eagles player you’d love to have in the Gunners line-up?
SD – Michael Olise – a real creative player that plays with swagger. Looks like a true Arsenal baller. We need someone to compete with Saka right now, and I think Olise has the ability to really challenge him on the wing.
But we’d benefit more if you took one of ours – Tierney, Lokonga, Pepe, Tavares?
TEB – hmm, a real sense of deja vu there, although I wouldn’t turn my nose up at Tierney.
TEB – Any arch enemies/pantomime villains for the Arsenal fans or is it all about Spurs and Manchester United?
SD – City. Only City. I think we’ve shown we’re better than everyone else. And I don’t think anyone else has strengthened as well as us (maybe if Liverpool get a number six). Chelsea and United still seem to have glaring flaws so it’s only City. After the pain of last season, I think a lot of the players want revenge.
TEB – Anything else you want to add?
SD – It’s going to be a long season, but if we leave without a trophy, I think most fans will be pretty disappointed.
TEB – Cheers Sulayman. Here’s to a Palace victory at Selhurst on Monday, but an Arsenal title win after that!
