We'll play our part in a little bit of football history this week, when the Premier League kicks off on a Friday for the first time.
Our opening-day form isn’t great - one win in the last seven - but our general form is strong with just one defeat in 11 games since we switched to a back three.
Leicester City are the visitors to Emirates Stadium and our pre-match briefing has classic goal clips, an exclusive chat with Arsene Wenger, match facts and a chance to test your knowledge on our new signings.
ONE TO WATCH: lacazette
Wenger says...
Certainly you would say that goals are harder to score in the Premier League, and we have many examples of when the goals do not necessarily transfer from one league to the other, and not necessarily from the French to the English league. But you must say as well that there are examples of guys who scored in France scoring in England. The last one is Ibrahimovic, he scored in France and scored in England exactly the same number of goals. I am confident Lacazette will get goals here.
He is a player who exceeds his expected goals. He had a goal approximately every 80 minutes in France and that is quite a good record because 80 is within 90, and that is quite promising. Let’s not focus too much on that though: if the team plays well and creates chances, he will get on the end of them.
TEAM NEWS
ARSENAL: Alexis (abdomen), Coquelin (ankle), Gabriel (knee), Cazorla (plantaris), Ozil (ankle - doubt), Ramsey (calf - doubt), Mertesacker (eye - doubt)
LEICESTER: Huth (ankle), Iheanacho (foot - doubt), Drinkwater (thigh - doubt), Slimani (leg - doubt)
MAN IN FORM: ALEX IWOBI
Wenger says...
Alex has prepared well. In the middle of last season he had a little dip in his performances but this time he came back focused. He has a good mentality, he loves football passionately and his personality is absolutely fantastic. He is a team player on top of that and I am sure he will contribute highly. These players who come through our ranks, it is an absolutely unbelievable benefit for the club and I am convinced he will have a great season.
Yes, of course [he’s made it hard to rest him]. You know, they are not dropped, just to be in the 18 in our team at the moment is a selection, not dropped. He’ll certainly be in the squad. Will he start or not? I don’t know yet. But he will be in the 18 and is one of the players who can contribute highly.
EXPERT ANALYSIS
Adrian Clarke says...
I’ve got to say, I was impressed by Craig Shakespeare’s decision-making. He showed a little bit of tactical flexibility, he changed the formation a few times. He definitely got the best out of Jamie Vardy and he got the team motivated.
He made some good acquisitions in the summer. Iborra from Sevilla looks a leader in the middle of the park and Harry Maguire, even though he’s being paid a ludicrous amount of money for a centre-back - I think £80,000 a week to be the Leicester centre-back - it sounds a lot but I think he’ll make a real difference because Huth and Morgan were on their last legs last season.
They were desperate for another centre-half.
They also signed Kelechi Iheanacho who is a real finish. Between Maguire and Iheanacho, they could turn out to be two of the more astute signings of the summer.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
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