It’s the calm before the storm. The Fulham game looms large – we need to grab all nine points in August to avoid falling behind even an inch. Both Blackburn and Manchester City are winnable games that can build some confidence in the team going into September’s busy schedule which has four Premiership fixtures and likely Champions League group games. The preseason has gone as well as it could possibly go and positive talk is all around the camp, it would be a damn shame to let it all slip against Fulham. Plus, I am in no mood to be 5 points back at the end of August. But there’s some good news already, we’re getting help from Arsenal fan Nyron Nosworthy who is extra motivated to beat the scum.

In his daily campaign for captaincy William Gallas says that Arsenal will not be kicked around on the pitch and that physical play against the Gunners will be regretted by opponents. Gallas wants the captaincy job and has completely shut the negative talk from earlier in the year and instead is trying to become the motivational speaker for the team, the Dr. Phil of sorts. It’s very appreciated but I still don’t feel comfortable with him, something about character that troubles me. But the man does bring up a good point, how will we fare against physical play this year? It’s not like we got bigger in a year, we’re mostly relying on the experience of our youth to overcome physical play. Let Gallas put it in words:

“Opponents will not be able to kick Arsenal any more. We are ready to give our answer to that sort of thing. Our players now understand how they have to play at certain times. We know we can always score at any time because we have so much quality up front.”

These thoughts were also echoed in a Telegraph piece I had linked yesterday, check it out if you haven’t already. Yogi’s Warrior talks about it at greater length.

Alexander Hleb wants to score 10 goals this season (not sure if he means overall or just in the league), but I say don’t bet against him. Nobody seems to think much of the guy so far but he could score that many, he missed a couple sitters last year and always looks for his shot. He either has really good games or really bad games, it’s literally feast or famine with Hleb. If he gets off to a good start, say a couple goals in the first 5 games, he’ll be on his way.

Arjen Robben is on his way to Real Madrid for £25 million and Cuntley is injured. Wait, there’s more: Lampard is being pursued by Barcelona and John Terry is out. Nothing like taking pleasure in the misery of others. Nobody’s expecting Arsenal to make any signings but you never know with Wenger. At least we’re pretty sure he’s not going to panic and throw money around at mediocre talent. AW might even wait till the last week of August and play some meaningful games before he decides who he wants to bring in, it’s leaving it late but it is proper evaluation.

A quick look at the blogosphere sees the Gunnerblog on vacation, The Cannon giving some news and Yogi’s Warrior saying the league is a distant dream but the Cups are still up for grabs. Hard to disagree. East Lower’s sick of the preseason.
Get the feed, it’s got my blood and sweat all over it.