The 2017-18 Premier League campaign gets underway at the Emirates Stadium on Friday night as two past champions in Arsenal and Leicester City lock horns.
Arsenal
For the first time in more than two decades, Arsenal head into a new campaign without Champions League football to contend with. For many that was reason enough to dispense with Wenger during the summer, but the Frenchman again survived and put pen to paper on a two-year deal.
Arsenal inevitably finished the season with a sparkle, winning nine of their last 10 games in all competitions to claw to within a whisker of maintaining their impressive record of finishing in the top four, while also lifting the FA Cup for the third time in four seasons.
The bottom line for Arsenal is that, while they may only have finished one point off Liverpool in fourth thanks to their strong finish, rivals Chelsea were a whopping 18 points better off. The hope for supporters now is that the change in formation, which brought about those nine wins from 10, can finally bring the good times back.
The arrival of a proven striker in Alexandre Lacazette, the scorer of 91 goals in four Ligue 1 campaigns, as well as a solid wing-back option in
Sead Kolasinac , has given the long-suffering Arsenal fans further reason to restore some positivity heading into the new campaign.
As ever when it comes to the Gunners, though, all that positivity could come crashing down in an instant, having lost three and drawn two of their last six opening-day fixtures. A similar slow start on Friday and the groundhog day cycle may well begin all over again.
Recent form: WWLWLW
Leicester City
Leicester had lost five in a row without scoring when the decision was taken to sack Ranieri – a decision that was met with widespread disgust, despite the clear nature of the Foxes’ plight towards the second tier of English football.
Make no mistake about it – the Foxes were well on their way to joining Manchester City by claiming the unenviable record of going down as champions, if not for the impressive work of Shakespeare to completely galvanise the players that he had got to know so well during his time as assistant.
The key to his success? Simply reverting to the basics, going with a 4-4-2 formation and choosing 10 of the 11 regulars from the season prior, with the only absentee being N’Golo Kante following his move to Chelsea.
Boosted by the signings of Harry Maguire , Kelechi Iheanacho and Vicente Iborra for a combined fee of £52.5m, plus Eldin Jakupovic and George Thomas to add some squad depth, the target for Shakespeare will now be to finish in the top half of the division.
Recent form: LWDLLW
Team News
Arsenal will be without star man Alexis Sanchez for the next fortnight due to an abdominal issue.
Laurent Koscielny will sit out the opener due to a suspension carried over from last term, while fellow defender Gabriel Paulista is nursing a knee complaint.
Francis Coquelin and Aaron Ramsey are expected to recover from knocks, as is Per Mertesacker, but Shkodran Mustafi and Mesut Ozil lack match fitness after their prolonged summer breaks.
New recruits Iheanacho and Maguire are likely to fit straight in, but fellow newbie Iborra is out for a couple of weeks with a groin strain.
Danny Drinkwater, linked with a switch to Chelsea during the summer months, is another who will play no part at the Emirates Stadium due to a thigh injury picked up in pre-season.
Arsenal possible starting lineup:
Cech; Bellerin, Mustafi, Mertesacker, Monreal, Kolasinac; Xhaka, Ramsey; Welbeck, Lacazette, Iwobi
Leicester City possible starting lineup:
Schmeichel; Simpson, Maguire, Morgan, Fuchs; Mahrez, Ndidi, Amartey, Gray; Iheanacho, Vardy
Head To Head
A late Robert Huth own goal settled the most recent encounter here, with the Foxes going down 1-0 four months ago.
Arsenal have lost two of the last 33 encounters in all competitions, in fact, racking up 10 home league wins on the bounce for their best-such record against a single opponent.
The two sides have met on 22 previous occasions in the Premier League, with the Gunners losing just one of those – a 2-1 reverse at Filbert Street in November 1994.
Prediction
Arsenal 2-0 Leicester City
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