Xhaka – surely you’ve heard of me – Sunderland vs Arsenal

Coventry, completed. Aston Villa, completed. Chelsea, completed. Napoli, completed. Sunderland, is probably the toughest

We have the first real challenge of the season, against Sunderland, away from home. We have already beaten Coventry, Aston Villa and Chelsea. We escaped with a narrow win against Napoli in Champions League, thanks to a late strike from Odegaard.

We only managed a point last season when we played Sunderland on their home ground. They took a lead early in the game but Saka and Trossard’s goals kept us in the lead. It was unfortunate that we conceded in the final minute of the game and Sunderland were more than happy to settle with a draw against the future Champions. We don’t want a repeat of that; I’m sure we would be looking to take the lead and hold onto it till the last minute. I am pretty sure Raya wants to keep a clean sheet.

There have been some new faces in the starting line ups this season, and they haven’t disappointed. Konsa is a brilliant player and we haven’t missed Saliba so far. Ben White is good in doing his job and though Timber is a clear upgrade on him, White is not a bad RB and does what he is asked for. MLS, in the midfield, is keeping Guimaraes on the bench and Tzolis has a dream start of his Arsenal career. Things look great as an Arsenal fan. The only thing to worry about is the Gyokeres treatment from Mikel, Havertz has not been bad so far, but Gyokeres must be wanting his place back.

I think Declan Rice can get the day off, and Bruno G can get his start today alongside the superstar Lewis-Skelly. We are playing against in 3 days in the Carabao Cup and we must keep him fit and well rested. Saka is built differently and I won’t take him off for Madueke, that’s a very big drop in performance.

I was hoping Mikel would give Max Dowman more minutes this season, but apparently he is playing U19 so it’s not going to be today. Ipswich Town in the Carabao cup next could be his moment. Not much worried though, that kid has immense potential and he will make his own way, just like Saka and MLS.

Only 3 games (including today) before we go into the break, and we can win them all. I wanna see some fireworks today, and I wanna see a fight between Bruno Guimaraes and Granit Xhaka, though Xhaka won’t be playing for Arsenal and Guimaraes won’t do his theatric against Arsenal. What a time to be alive, lol.

Right, see you during the game.

By the way, Everton did Spuds dirty by putting Maitland Niles on their poster for today’s game.