Well, here we go again…….. Tomorrow’s match against Newcastle begins again the ninth month cycle of sadness and terror (and maybe a touch of happiness). No, I’m not talking about pregnancy, I’m talking about the Premier League season. This season is just as much up in the air as the last few have been and maybe even more so. We’ve let go of some players (Clichy, Denilson on loan), potentially let go of some (Cesc, Samir Moneybags) and hopefully let go of some others (Almunia, Eboue….please god). Some players have been signed as well (forehead guy and 22 pre-schoolers with “exceptional promise and mental strength”). Your guess is as good as mine…..

As for the first match of the season against “that team who we played those games against last season that we don’t like to talk about”, it could be a good opportunity to exorcise some demons right out of the gate. A good win could erase the memories of last year and set up some of the fabled “mental strength/toughness/brutality”. (Although, that’s supposedly what the Chelsea win was supposed to do last year…..sigh).

In terms of team news it is looking a lot better than it was several days ago. Vermaelen and Theo are back, Ramsey and Arshavin were apparently not injured on international duty, and RVP and Gibbs look good but were going to undergo tests today to double check their fitness. Diaby is out (I’m as surprised as you are), and, more worryingly, so is Wilshere. He apparently has an achilles injury and they just put a boot on his foot. They seem to be acting extra carefully, possibly due to similarities with Vermaelen’s injury last year. Those similarities are a tad scary due to the amount of time Vermaelen was out. We shall see.

In terms of Newcastle, we don’t like them and they have a midfielder that had a Hitler moustache. I think that explains enough.

Barton might start, which means it almost might be worth it to have Diaby play just so he can possibly decapitate him at some point during the match. They have lost a few people over the off season but that doesn’t mean I would put one past them. I’m sure they will be up for the match especially after last season’s results.

This could be a rough go, but it could also be a big win. Similar to my thoughts on the season I have absolutely no idea about this match. This Arsenal team never fails to surprise me. At least the Football can start now and we can focus on something other than transfer rumors and fatalistic season predictions.

Thank god for that.

*Come on down to Beulahland tomorrow at 9:30, to start the whole wild, enraging, exciting football mess over again. There are rumors of cake and balloons but they have not been officially cleared as of yet.

In a quick look ahead to Saturday’s Premier League clash with Birmingham City we finally get a touch of good news. Two in fact, and possibly three, even! Nicklas Bendtner and Kieran Gibbs are both back from injury and could possibly feature at the weekend. Theo Walcott is slated for a fitness test on Friday to determine whether he is ready to return to action for the Gunners.

I suppose I should say, tentatively, that there are four pieces of good news as Aaron Ramsey is training again. By Wenger’s assessment he looks to be about another month out, which is quite an amazingly quick return. He is a youngster, however, so let’s hope for a truly 100% return to form.

While this is all good news, we’re still missing a fair part of the core squad. Fabregas, Almunia, Sagna and Vermaelen are still around ten days out. Robin van Persie is, of course, at least a month away from a return.

So, with all of that being said, that means we need to see the Fabianski of late for at least a few more matches. It really would be great to see one of our current keepers really step it up so we don’t have to worry about buying for that slot at the January window.