Happy Thursday fellow Goonerite. And lo, we have some actual football to talk about! 

Yep, pre-season is officially underway and kicked off yesterday with a 4-0 romping of those world beaters known as the Singapore XI, with goals between Chuba Akpom and Jack Wilshere ensuring that it will be more realistic for the lazy of us to watch the final on Saturday. Why? Well because the final is on at 1.30pm, where as the third/fourth place playoff is at around 11am, I believe. It’s a relief because let’s face it, if you’re in the UK and you’re a somewhat lazy Arsenal fan like me, there’s an outside chance you might not make that.

Accuse me of disloyalty or not having enough passion, but these friendlies are so stop-start they can hardly be classed as thorough entertainment and the fact that they don’t actually mean much, pretty much compounds the whole issue of having to get up early to watch.

But anyway, we don’t have to worry about that, or our striking problems ever again, because Big Chuba is on hand to break his way into the first team, giving Arsène the delightful opportunity to close the doors at London Colney and declare: “we’re full mate, you’re not coming in” to any more players.

Of course we all know the reality is that bagging a hat trick against a Singapore XI is a little different to doing it in the Premier League against Moneychester City, or on a cold Tuesday in Stoke (had to get at least one irritating cliché in there), but what it will do is give Chuba confidence that he belongs amongst his fellow first team pros. There are high hopes for him and although I still suspect a loan deal is in the offing before the window shuts, it is nice to imagine that he could be this seasons Coquelin, isn’t it? I mean come on, you’re not one of those so hungry for a thrill that only a £40million striker will quench your football thirst, are you?

Think about how much fawning the media did over Kane last season? Then imagine that Chuba can make people think ‘Kane who?’ with a fantastic season?

I know, I know, we probably shouldn’t be gambling a season of potential Premier League glory on an unproven striker, but we won the league with relative unknown Anelka, so why not at least dream a little? It’s far more preferable than the whole “SIGN ALL THE PLAYERS!!!!!!” Mentality that some people have. You’ll probably live longer too.

Besides, Arsène hasn’t ruled out any signings like he’s been known to in the past, so if you do fall in to the latter camp you can take a chill pill. I think if a megastar becomes available, Arsène will go for it, because we’re in a position where we need cherries on top and not sponge or jam in our cake. Or some sort of other metaphor that probably works better. I’ll let you have a go at that one.

In terms of the other positive performances yesterday, I can only go on the written word that I’ve read, because I haven’t managed to watch the whole game yet. But by all accounts it appears that Jack had a good game and his apparent ‘burst’ has returned, as noted by the manager post game, so that’s a positive sign for the upcoming season. What Jack might not have wanted to hear from Le Boss is that he may have to ply his trade out wide at times this season, on account of the overwhelming number of players whose best position is central. We’ve already seen it last season with Rambo playing wide right and, given Arsène’s comments yesterday, there’s part of me that wonders whether or not the start of the season will see Wilshere crop up on the left hand side of the front three.

I hope not. Not because Jack isn’t a good player or I don’t want to see him play, but because I think we have better and more creative options to replace Alexis at the start of the season, as he recovers from the Copa America. I think Welbeck or The Ox are more naturally suited to those attacking positions and with the team we have and the depth that now exists in the squad, it would be worrying for us to see Arsène going back to old habits and putting square pegs in round holes to accommodate players.

Anyway, there is still plenty of pre season to try and dissect Arsène’s thinking from a tactical and personnel perspective and as we’ve all learnt by now, what Arsène says in the media should sometimes be taken with a pinch of salt. The game yesterday was full of subs as expected and when friendlies are as bitty as that game apparently was yesterday, you can’t really make any half-decent judgements on the team for the upcoming season.

So that’s pretty much it from me for today. My train approaches a big black hole, so I’ll sign off and say “see ya tomorrow”.