Rich

Liverpool being overpowered everywhere. Watford look fucking massive.

I like this season already.

Class

They've signed Robertson from Hull Where is he? Injured? Not fully settled in yet, according to Klopp. Moreno had a very strong pre-season.

Liverpool still going to be good to watch for the neutrals then. Abysmal out of possession if the ball makes it past their initial press, far too pedestrian and lightweight in the centre.

Good marking las.

No news on him pre-game, but he's behind Chalobah and Doucoure anyway to begin with.

That's what I said m8.

So is it safe to assume there was an 11v11 going on in preparation for Spurs? He's obviously not in either the first XI or the second XI now, so he wasn't involved, but got a shout when someone dropped out and then refused to join in?

This is right, of course, but any of our proposed strongest XI for this season could get crocked or sold as well. That was our strongest team in 2010/11 player-for-player.

Played more than Harper that season.

Bottled Moreno for Fantasy despite fancying him to get the nod, went with Alexander-Arnold instead. Delighted to see Milner on the bench though. Very interested to see Liverpool's front three, but even more creative weight on them than normal with no Coutinho/Lallana behind.

Townsend's in a weird spot at Palace now, with De Boer going with a 3-4-3/3-4-2-1 and wing-backs. He's going to start the season at right wing-back, which is a position he's probably not delighted to be playing because he'll have no chance there from an England perspective. With Zaha and Benteke automatic choices he's effectively got that position or the other one behind the front man to go for, but Puncheon and Lokilo are relatively stiff competition for him there. I still rate him and think he'd complete that three very nicely, offering a different threat with his long-range shooting, but he's obviously far from settled.

Killed me Wenger makes it with his little responses. #KeepWenger

It sounds like Rafa's trying for four more, perhaps even five if a miracle happens, but a lot hinges on what he can do to shift the deadwood. We'll certainly bring in a striker at the very least, as that's the position where we're absolutely bare. However, as he's alluded to we're now at the stage where we're effectively signing players to improve the squad rather than to improve the first team (signing players we "need" rather than "want"), which means the potential difference they can make to us is significantly reduced. Ideally you want to be buying/loaning players to improve your weakest parts of the starting eleven, not just to fill a hole.

Krul Simpson Williamson Coloccini Enrique Ben Arfa Barton Tiote Gutierrez Nolan Carroll Best team from 10/11? Elliot Yedlin Lejeune Clark Dummett Ritchie Shelvey Hayden Atsu Perez Gayle Best team today? Probably weaker now than in 8-10 places man-for-man when considering the abilities of that team at the time, we've also got less experience and general know how but a better manager and more professional coaching setup. Think the only ones up for debate are Yedlin/Simpson, Lejeune/Williamson and Shelvey/Barton at the current time. Contextually the league is possibly better now than it was then, although that's a hard thing to quantify.

https://twitter.com/ArsenalsRelated/status/895727581768458240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.goal.com%2Fen%2Fnews%2Fvideo-wenger-and-mertesacker-take-part-in-hilarious%2Fuh5213i0auhe1qyer7myw11k8 These two seem canny

Anyone know where Ashley lives and have a picture of Justin Barnes?

The shine has been taken off this season a bit for me like, but still excited for Sunday and getting back into the Gallowgate.

Doesn't train well and concedes a penalty. Sell. Solid stuff here.

So now we know the worst case scenario squad-wise. Still think it'll look a fair bit better than that. Not hard to improve upon Haidara, Saivet, Colback and Hanley even if you've only got buttons to spend.

Go on Rob.

Lejeune all the way.

Not you Santy

Why's he crawled out of the woodwork?