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Aston Villa (h) Thoughts & Line Up: Ox to start? Is Santi match fit? & Positive momentum a must

In other areas of the pitch, I think we are without injury to our first choice players. I swear I heard that we had a collection of major injuries only a few days ago. It appears that Sagna, Ramsey and Theo are all ready to rock and roll which is great. The only question mark apart from the one central midfield position is who starts left sided attack? Santi Cazorla has not had a full pre season and also came back late from his international game with Spain so he may start from the bench, if this is the case then you can expect Lukas Podolski to play wide left. That said, Santi is Santi. How can you have a new season without watching the shifting little feet of Santi twisting one way and another.

Season does not end before Sep 2nd, Replacing Arteta & Player target fear

we signed Luiz Gustavo from Bayern Munich right? Well he signed for Wolfsburg instead. I don't for one moment believe that if all was equal he would choose Wolfsburg over Arsenal so if I was to guess the reason for his decision then it would be based on assurances of playing time from the Germans. Arsene may have said that he would be competing with Arteta, Ramsey and Wilshere for a place in the team while Wolfsburg said he would be an automatic starter. Given that he has spent the last season playing second fiddle, you can understand the decision. But that does not help us. In truth, I don't understand the thinking of throwing out Coquelin on loan without bringing

Arsenal 3 Man City 1 – Why did Podolski start?, Rambo & Theo on the rise & More

The boot was on the other foot when Aaron Ramsey lifted his head and made eye contact with Theo Walcott in what was possibly our first meaningful attack. It was surreal moment for me when watching it live, almost as if I had drifted into Aaron Ramsey's mind. I had spotted Walcott leaning towards the blind side of Clichy and as soon as I thought 'go on Aaron, slip it through' the Welshman threaded through a perfectly weighted pass cutting through a number of City players for Walcott to latch onto. Theo's improvement in recent season's is such that when he finds himself in these positions I now expect a goal and I am surprised when the ball does not hit the back of the net, like in our final Emirates cup game. Yup you know the one with that wonderful pass from guess who? Aaron

Your Vision – Best Starting XI Before Major Signings

Sagna and Gibbs, though Monreal is a very close second left back in my estimation. He has a stronger defensive quality than Gibbs, but lacks what Gibbs has moving into attacking positions. I'd alternate these two depending on the opposition. Jenkinson is a good young right back, but he's wildly inexperienced at the moment and is not as consistent as he needs to be if he wants to be a starter. Keeping Sagna around for another season or two will teach the youngster a lot about how to defend and work

I won’t get attached, Suarez ‘Loan’ would suit me fine

So should Suarez sign for us then I will see it as a loan of sorts. A chance for a good player to play at a higher level (I bet that stings Liverpool fans) and under a better manager. He would give us a chance to compete for silverware as well as allowing young talents like Yaya Sanogo to mature, then

Operation Higuain abort starts to make sense & Creativity priority

Suarez is not going to be enough as stated above. Rosicky and Cazorla are some of the best midfield players in the middle of the pitch. They know when to beat their man, when to play it first time. Their first touches are to die for but neither at the edge of the penalty area are as good as the rest of their game, Santi to a lesser extent perhaps.

Your Vision – The Emirates Stadium move and modern football- a distancing and snubbing of long-serving supporters

Right this is. The stadium was supposed to put us on a more level playing field with the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona, whereas it has actually just distanced us more from them. Yes it will benefit us in the future financially, but is it worth it? Is it worth leaving your spiritual home and soul to move to a bigger, more expensive stadium where ticket prices are higher and the club and the fans are more distant? What’s more, where a lot of fans who were able to afford to go and watch their team regularly at Highbury are now priced out of going to do the same at the Emirates Stadium, like Craig?

Your Vision – Arsene says we can win the league, is he barking?

I’ve written before about our defence and I think all we need is a suitable 4th CB cover, as the competition between Gibbs/Monreal; Koscielny/Mertesacker/Vermaelen, and Sagna/Jenkinson is good, but only 3 CB’s is not safe enough. I think that Vermaelen is still a very good defender and he suffered from what many of our players suffered from over the last two seasons, and that is a lack of competition and over confidence in their own place in the team. I think being dropped but kept as skipper is a crucial indication of Wenger’s plans. Mertesacker

My Emirates Cup Plea: Hold fire, baby porridge could still arrive

Chelsea want to buy Rooney but haven't done so yet, Manchester United want to make sure they do not fall behind Manchester City but are yet to make any serious progress. This tells me that there is more to it than just wanting to get players signed. There seems to be a method to some of the madness, not all but some. The amount of people stating as fact that Arsenal will NOT sign any players this summer. 'Whenga and Gazidis are taking us for mugs, they are pocketing d cash for Stan and Whenga takes the profits home from the money we do not spend' or such nonsense. (Surely they do know that is nonsense right?)

Will current Suarez bid be enough? & Magic Cazorla returns

Cesc Fabregas. I say overall game because Cesc's defence splitting passes sent shivers down my spine, but that aside, Santi is far more fun to watch. The way he gets out of tight spaces with his little speedy feet is a sight to behold. Does anybody look more graceful when they spray the ball across the pitch with a pass? It looks even more enjoyable when it is done with his 'weaker' foot.