I’m going to let you ‘in behind the curtain’ a little here and level with you, these words were written yesterday (Saturday), as I knew that I would be rather hungover and probably in no mood to sit at my computer and tap away at the keyboard for 20 minutes whilst trying to prepare myself mentally for another day of lunchtime boozing just on the outskirts of Wembley. So I thought I’d write today’s pre match musings and do a wee bit of scheduling. So if I forget about when this is posting and talk about ‘tomorrow’, just put it down to me not being very good at pre-planning stuff like this.

It’s match day ‘today’ though and that is always a fun time and, do you know, this is the first ever Community Shield I’ve been to. In previous year’s I’ve either been on holiday, or I had a lovely ol’ Wembley day out just a few months prior, as when we’ve been in this competition in the last 20 years it has usually been because we were FA Cup winners. That means that the ‘mystique’ of Wembley doesn’t feel as dramatic as it did just a few short months earlier, so I’ve always felt a little ‘meh’ about the Community Shield. Arteta spoke about it on Friday and how he is excited to be fighting for a ‘trophy’, but let’s be honest if the honour handed out come May 2024 involve just one Community Shield for The Arsenal, I don’t think any of us are going to be jumping up and down with delight that we are trophy winners. It might make us chuckle to poke fun at The Scum (assuming they haven’t won anything, which is not beyond the realms of possibility, is it? I mean they are ‘in’ the competitions and you never know what kind of lucky cup run they might get), but this is just a bit of a fitness exercise and maybe an opportunity for Arteta to settle on a starting XI for next weekend’s game at home to Forest.

Other than that, this is just a bit of a fun day out and for me that makes it quite a nice one. If we win it, great, but if we lose, then there’s more for Arteta to learn and we’ll see some of our players in a semi-competitive match which will give us an idea of what is in store for this season.

I think that for me is what I’m going to take away from the game the most today; what is working in a sort of ‘proper’ match. The previous friendlies have not really been that I don’t think. I know Baolgun talked about how Arteta is ‘super intense’ even for friendlies, but I still think players play within themselves and I sus[pect that happened in all of the friendlies we have played so far. But today might have a little more ‘edge’ to it. Maybe not loads as both sets of players should know they don’t want to injure one another (although Rodri might not care, the little pr*ck), but perhaps a wee bit more than the others, which is fine. Arteta will want his lads ‘ready’ for Forest next weekend and today’s game will help them prepare for that.

In terms of team line up, well, this season I suspect this is going to be quite the guessing game and so it remains today, because there are few positions that I could say for certainty that we know what is in store. I think Ramsdale in goal is a given, probably Saliba and Gabriel too, then Odegaard on the right eight position and Saka on the wide right, but whereas would you put money down on who starts? At right back it could be Timber or White, at left back it could be Timber, Tomiyasu or Kiwior (I think we all know it won’t be KT, sadly). In the six it could be Partey or Rice. In the left eight it could be Rice, Havertz or Smith Rowe. Wide left you’d normally say Martinelli is a shoe-in, but Trossard’s form has been brilliant and I think Arteta might find it tough to leave Leo out. Which then also means that you can’t say for sure that Eddie is going to start through the centre.

There are so many questions left answered right now!

So with that in mind, I am not expecting to get this line up prediction right, but here’s what I would do if Mikel called me and said “just for a laugh, you pick the team today”:

Ramsdale

White   –   Saliba   –   Gabriel   –   Timber

Partey

Odegaard   –   Rice

Saka   –   Trossard   –   Martinelli

I was going to go for KT but we all know he is probably on borrowed time, plus Timber is a guy who has shown a preference for inversion and Zinchenko himself has said he is a guy he thinks could take his place in the future. I’ve selected White and Partey because it is a level of continuity from last season that I think is worth us maintaining. If you look at that team as it is you are talking about two players who come in who are still relatively fresh to the way we play, the others have been in an Arteta system for some time and I think that level of continuity is important as we kick the season off. I’ve also gone for Rice over Havertz because I think out of possession Rice will offer us more defensive solidity against what is essentially the best team on the planet as it stands. And let’s face it, we’re going to be out of possession a lot more against City than we will against Forest the following weekend, where I’d probably revert to Havertz in the left eight role. But for this game it feels like it would be more natural to have him in there and for me this team line up gives me the most comfort.

But I’d be willing to switch things around in the second half and I suspect we’ll see that at some stage. I’d be surprised if Havertz and Nketiah didn’t get on to the pitch today because Arteta wants some form of competitive minutes in all of the players he trusts. That will probably also include Tomiyasu as well as don’t be surprised to see those three being the first ones to be warming up this afternoon.

As I said at the time of this being released I will probably be in bed, but by 1pm I’ll be in JJ Moons in Kingsbury having myself a beverage or two and enjoying meeting up with the lads once more, so looking forward to it. If you’re going and you fancy sharing a jar or two and an Arsenal story, would love for you to come and say ‘hi’.

Catch you all tomorrow.