I went for my run this morning, listened to an Arsenal podcast as I always do, digesting what’s going on in the Arsenal world ahead of the latest game in the early hours of the morning in Philadelphia. These pre season games are useful as fitness exercises, as opportunities for fans from overseas to get closer to the players in their own environment, rather than schlep halfway around the world to watch us in London as I always get to do. But what I realised as I was thinking about this game this evening UK time, is that with every friendly match that is played, the nerve-level for me personally gets dialled up an additional notch each time.

During the Euro’s it’s all just a bit abstract; you’re watching football, you’re semi-invested (in my case) in one or two teams, you’re kind of getting in to it, but not really. Then the first pre season friendly happens and it’s a little bit similar. You know it’s just a friendly, that the result doesn’t matter, that it’s nice to hear that Arsenal have won but it’s more about fitness and seeing if there were any players in particular that caught the eye. Usually it might be one of the youngsters on display.

But with each game, the nerves, the agony, the stress and the worry becomes a little bit more pronounced. For me the Bournemouth game was a “huh, how did that one go then?”

The Man United game was a “Be fun to win this one. Wonder how many minutes some of the first teamers will get?”

This Liverpool game tonight is a little more “can we see more first teamers, on for a little longer, to give us an indication of how ready we are come Wolves in two weekend’s time?”

By the time the team get back in to London to player Bayer Leverkusen and the Lyon, I think we’re probably getting in to dress rehearsal territory. When Lyon rock up at The Emirates on Sunday 11th August, we need to know just how sharp the squad is. And there’s not a lot of room for manoeuvre, is there? Not with what the aim is for the team this season. Last season confirmed that we are no longer competing with margins. We’re competing with basically no margin for error whatsoever if this team is to progress. It was 89 points and a final day showdown with 115 Charges FC in 2023/24. If we want to even be in that position again, it feels like those first six week’s of the season might define everything.

It’s one of the biggest cliches in football: You can’t win a title in August/September, but you can sure as heck lose one and when you look at our fixtures, it feels like this team is going to be tested from the off. Wolves at home, Villa away, Brighton at home, the Scum away, City away, Leicester at home. That is so flipping hard. Wolves under Gary O’Neill have proved themselves to be a tough opponent capable of good things. We know Villa will be raring to scalp us again like last season, Brighton may have a new manager, but their principles of play will ensure this is really hard. Then we have the small matter of going to the Toilet Bowl before the Emptihad. It is not outside of the realms of possibility that we could find ourselves with a couple of defeats before the autumn has properly kicked in. Last season City lost just three games and we lost five. The season before that they lost five and won the title. The season before that it was two. If we’ve lost a couple of games by October, there will be people wondering whether our title chances are over already.

That’s why pre season feels like it matters more than in the past. You have to have your engine up and running and ready from day one these days; you can’t afford not to and when you’ve also got such tough games to play in the opening weeks, it feels like the margin for error feels tiny. We’re no longer trying to compete for the top four spots in which you can lose 10, nine or 11 matches and still get in to the Champions League (that’s what the last few seasons have shown us going back the last few years, in terms of top four spots). The expectations have been raised and as a result the margin for error has been shortened.

It’s why you can see why Arteta wants to stockpile players in positions and reduce the risk if we get injury. Not only will the games come thick and fast, but the need for ‘W’s will as well. Imagine what the mood amongst us all will be if we’ve lost two and maybe drawn one by 1st October. It will be a little down I think. Conversely, if Arteta and his team pick up wins away at Villa, home to Brighton and the The Scum, imagine how buoyed we’ll all be? It will be massive. But the challenge he has is that there is no time to ‘feel’ your way in to the season like Arne Slot and his Liverpool team. Sure, they play United on 1st September which is a big game, but other than that they play Ipswich away, Brentford at home, Forest at home and Bournemouth at home in their first six matches. That’s the sort of run that can build momentum and it feels like they’ve been given a bit of a leg up there.

And I know, there will be some saying “you have to play everyone twice, quit yer wining” and to some extent that is fair, but in elite sport where marginal gains are very much a thing, being able to build momentum by getting wins under your belt early on is, I think, really important. It builds confidence. I remember Paul Merson saying you never feel fatigue when you are winning and confident and if a team gets in to the cadence of winning, it helps to get them over the line. We have a really tough hill to climb at first but if we manage to overcome it, I’d massively fancy our chances this season. Stumble early and I wonder if we’ll find it a little difficult to play catch up.

But let’s not end on a melancholy or worried note; we have a fantastic team, a great manager, we’re all excited for the season and personally I can’t wait for Wolves at home. Bring. It. On.