Spurred On: Tottenham Hotspur (A)

For many, it's the game we all look to when the fixture list comes out. Though as laughable as it is how much the scummers fear us, truth be told and we're more worried about Man United or Chelsea than we are our sad North London rivals.

It's been the same old story for years now as Tottenham fans delude themselves pre-season after pre-season into believing "this is the year" they will topple us. Yet even in our most disastrous season of recent years, 2005-06, we still managed to pip our desperate foes to fourth whilst they were still busy grumbling over a dodgy lasagne.

This time round is no different with added spice as an incentive as former Gunner and now universal hate figure Emmanuel Adebayor faces off against us once more - and this time, in blistering form. The God of twitching, dodgy 'Arry, seems to have an obsession with Gunners rejects. First David Bentley, then William 'Le Sulk' Gallas. Now Ade-pay-me-more. And though he has a record of starting well at every club, I have no doubt his appaling attitude will lead to his downfall once more in North London.

Spurs go into this one at full strength will the likes of Bale, Modric, Van der Vaart and Lennon all back, though with Djourou, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Diaby, Ramsey and Wilshere all out, and Walcott & Gervinho facing late fitness tests, we will have to take extra care in ensuring our midfield is not over-ran on the day. It's a test Per Mertesacker is looking forward to, telling press:

"A lot of people have been telling me about it, how massive it is, and what a special experience it is and I am looking forward to it. It is an especially important game for Arsenal and for me. There is nothing similar to it in Germany. You cannot compare Bremen against Hamburg because they are not quite in the same city, so the London derby is bigger."

Probable Starting XI: Szcesczny, Sagna, Song, Mertesacker, Santos, Benayoun, Arteta, Rosicky, Walcott, Van Persie, Gervinho
Subs: Fabianski, Jenkinson, Gibbs, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Arshavin, Park, Chamakh

Post Match Reaction: Olympiakos (H)

In a round of Champions League fixtures where we emerged as the only English side to win, three more crucial points are on the board after a less than convincing display.

Positives:
Three more points have seen us remain in second in our group, but three clear of nearest placed Borussia Dortmund after Marseille recorded an impressive 3-0 win over the Germans in France. Yet another impressive performance from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has seen the teenager become the youngest ever English goalscorer in the Champions League whilst Alex Song filled in at centre-back with impressive ease.

Negatives:
A shambolic defensive display in which Olympiakos were gifted chance after chance could, and should, have come back to punish us. Our new zonal marking system simply isn't working, as seen from the Greek's goal where Fuster was left entirely unmarked in our six yard box to head home.

Conclusion:
Three wins in a week, is our season finally back on track? There are still many issues to work on defensively but with Van Persie rested ahead of Sunday's trip to Tottenham, three points is the main thing tonight. It's now surely a matter of time untill Oxlade is starting in the league whilst Andre Santos persevered well for his first ever goal in a red shirt.

Go Greece Lightning! Olympiakos (H)

Olympiakos are visitors to the Emirates tonight as we look to continue our Champions League dream with Wenger once again sitting out the action due to a European touchline ban.

The Greeks are no pushovers, and though on paper this looks like our easiest fixture in the group, we will be wary of our 1-0 loss in Athens just two years ago. Now bolstered by former Aston Villa defender Olof Mellberg, three points will be our main concern tonight as we look to record three victories in eight days and keep in touch with early leaders Marseille.

Our last home fixture to the 1998/99 Quarter-Finalists saw an Arshavin double see us home safely with a 2-0 win. Let's hope for more of the same tonight!
We will do so without Laurent Koscielny, Theo Walcott and Gervinho, who all picked up injuries in training, meaning Alex Song will slot into a makeshift centre-half role alongside Per Mertesacker with Emmanuel Frimpong and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain moving into midfield.

Post Match Reaction: Bolton (H)

Robin van Persie joined the esteemed 100 club as his brace saw him reach a century of Gunner goals on a day when we recorded our first convincing win of the league season.

Positives:
RVP's 100 goals have seen some utterly stupendous efforts in his 7 years at the club so far and if it wasn't for his injury plagued career, he would have surely hit this mark alot sooner. It was great to see our main man reach such a landmark and cement his place in the Gunners hall of fame alongside the likes of Bergkamp, Henry and Wright. Van Persie's goal ratio for 2011 has been incredible and since knocking in his 75th goal against Birmingham on 1 January 2011, the Dutchman has managed to score another 25, meaning has averaged a goal every 100.3 minutes in 2011. Interestingly enough, as well as the 100 goals, Van Persie has created 51 assists in his time at Arsenal, while Theo Walcott has provided him with 15 assists, including the 100th goal he netted against Bolton yesterday.

Negatives:
It's hard to find negatives from what what was a pretty polished display. Alex Song's late curler showed us he looks back to his best going forward though if we are being picky, it's fair to say we struggled to break the Trotters down up until David Wheater's 60th minute dismissal.

Conclusion:
With our home form improving and a clean sheet recorded, the mood in the camp is slowly starting to lift. Arsene Wenger remains positive, likening Van Persie to Lionel Messi.

“I see similarities positional-wise with Messi," he said. "He comes deep, he likes to turn up front as well. He doesn't play like a real centre forward but when you look at his movement around the box he is very intelligent and goes on diagonal runs. I always thought his first touch was so good that he can make a difference even in a tight space. He has matured from the boy who was a little bit emotionally impulsive when he arrived to the guy who is here today. But he is intelligent, speaks his mind and you can speak to him as well. He takes advice and overall he has developed very well."

Trotting On... Bolton (H)

After the despair at Blackburn last weekend, it is another Lancashire club against which we face this weekend. Long gone are the days of Sam Allardyce and Bolton's rough and ready tactics somewhat proving to be our bogey team, yet Coyle's side work well together technically and are not to be under-estimated.

A solid defensive display will no doubt be our no.1 aim for this match with a new defensive strategy being worked on in training this week whilst Marouane Chamakh may be in line for a start after his goal at Ewood Park last Saturday.

Kieran Gibbs says we won't sit back.
"We want to keep it tight without taking away anything from our attacking flair," he told Arsenal Player. "If we sit back we could invite more pressure so it is important we don't do that and win the game. We want to improve defensively. Their manager is strict and he will go to all places this season looking to win. It will be an interesting game for both of us and we can hopefully look to pick back up some form. So will they."

In terms of team news, Rosicky is back in the squad whilst Sagna and Ramsey had positive tests this morning. Benayoun has a thigh strain and Djourou a hamstring problem. Both of them are very minor muscular problem but I'm sure Wenger won't take the gamble. We have also recieved some bad news on the injury front today with Jack Wilshere's ankle surgery planned to go ahead, meaning we will now miss our star midfielder until the new year.

Post Match Reaction: Shrewsbury (H)

First goals for the club from Alex Oxlade Chamberlain and then Yossi Benayoun saw us overcome an early scare to progress to the next round of a competition that perhaps represents our best chance of silverware this year.

Positives:
The goals from Oxlade-Chamberlain and Benayoun will have done their confidence the world of good. Oxlade's imparticular had a real touch of class about it and he looks like he is progressing rapidly. The industrious Park looked lively upfront, whilst Kieran Gibbs will have been pleased to get on the scoresheet.

Negatives:
Going a goal down at home to Shrewsbury is always depressing and at that point, it looked as though our woes were set to continue. Poor marking (especially from set plays) and poor defensive positioning were again evident throughout.

Conclusion:
After looking like the victims of an upset that would have surely cost Wenger his job midway through the first half, a strong comeback ensured we progress to the fifth round where we will now face Bolton. The Carling Cup has been an important stepping stone for many of our now key players over the past few years, including Theo Walcott, Alex Song, Aaron Ramsey and at one point, Robin van Persie.
This year's looks like more of the same with the likes of Ryo, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Ignasi Miquel looking promising.

The Taming of the Shrew: Shrewsbury (H)

With the darkness of Ewood Park behind us, our Carling Cup campaign kicks off tonight for the first time since the day that we've never really recovered from.

A Carling Cup Final against Birmingham back in February was without a doubt the most glaring of opportunities to end our barren run of six years without a trophy. Yet a Koscielyn and Szcescny horror show 2 minutes from time saw us consequently lose all momentum in our title charge and tumble out of the FA Cup and Champions League in the resulting weeks.

Tonight sees Shrewsbury as visitors to North London and Wenger has confirmed that we will see a few of the squad players and younger lads. “We have a big squad now and we want to make use of that,” he told Arsenal.com.

“I will give a chance for young players to shine and find the right mixture in this competition between keeping our faith in young players and, of course, winning the games. That means having the right balance between experience and youth. I had my team in my head before the Blackburn game and it will remain exactly the same. We will have Frimpong, Coquelin, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ryo, and maybe one or two more. There is an also opportunity to see Park for the first time. Chamakh will also feature. You will also see Jenkinson start in his position."

Likely Line-Up: Fabianski, Jenkinson, Djourou, Miquel, Gibbs, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Frimpong, Coquelin, Ryo, Chamakh, Park

Post Match Reaction: Blackburn (A)

A Yakubu brace and two own goals saw us take a huge step back as another hatful of goals were conceded on our travels. This time at Blackburn in a 4-3 thriller.

Positives:
We were always positive in attack and utterly pounded Rovers for the entire ninety minutes with 67% of the possession and 22 shots on goal. Gervinho took his goal well, as did new boy Mikel Arteta with his first for the club. Three goals on your travels is always commendable, just a shame on this occasion we then conceded four!

Negatives:
Yet again, an absolutely shambolic defensive display has cost us the points and it's about time Wenger got a well drilled defensive coach with bags of know-how in to sort out this sorry lot. Martin Keown, Tony Adams... where are you? Mertesacker was opened up like a slow-closing fire door for the first goal whilst the way Olssen was allowed to run at our defence for the coffin-nailing fourth was a joke.
We know that as individuals, our defenders are class players (just look at the way Gallas and Clichy's careers have had a fresh breath injected into them since leaving) but collectively, there is no communication or leadership.
"We are not doing that at the moment and are not consistent enough," said RVP after the game.

"It just frustrates me, and it is happening too often. Every time we start positively we just keep making the same mistakes and that is surprising. It's very important to get back on track. Even before the game on Saturday I said to the boys, 'today is a big, big day'. We have to get back-to-back wins, and we just cannot do that at the moment. That is our aim for the next couple of games, we have to win them after each other.

Conclusion:
This was our chance to get back on track and put together those all important back-to back wins for the first time in 8 months. But we didn't. And it's starting to look like it could be a very long season. Our start to this term has been our worst in 58 years and our stop-start form has echoes of 2005-06 about it. That year, we left it untill the final day of the season to secure a top four place. This year, it could well be much of the same.

Rovers Return: Blackburn (A)

With Blackburn supporters rumoured to be plotting a protest march to remove Eastenders' Grant Mitchell from his managerial position at Ewood Park (or 'Steve Kean' as the media insist on calling him), there might not be a better time to play Blackburn all season.

Whilst the Rovers poor form continues, it seems we are on the up. The midweek draw in Dortmund was the strongest defensive display we've put in in some time and a repeat of last season's 1-0 at Ewood would do nicely again. After his blistering start to the season, don't rule out Theo bagging the winner once more!

Team news time then, and as usual, Vermaelen stays on the sidelines. When fit, he is most definitely our best defender, perhaps even our most natural leader, and by far one of the strongest centre-halves in the league. But his situation is now becoming worringly similiar to Van Persie's.
When he plays, we win. But how often does he play now that his body looks undeniably weakened by last season's long lay-off through a mystery ankle problem? Luckily, Mertesacker is there to step in and he's looked every inch the German international in his two games so far. Strong, sturdy, positionally switched on, and great in the air. Jack Wilshere will also stay on the treatment table for a further two months, so that young Xavi-Iniesta-in the making partnership of Jacky and Aaron Ramsey will have to be put on hold a little longer. Tomas Rosicky, Diaby and Squillaci all remain sidelined and Jenkinson suspended, (though that's no real loss) whilst Park and Andre Santos have regained match fitness and should take their place on the bench.

Expect to see Arshavin starting once more following his recently rejuvenation and upturn in form though he will now have to battle with the impressive Gervinho for a starting berth, following the Ivorian's return from an opening day suspension at Newcastle. Alex Song also returns which is a huge boost though Frimpong will sit out one more game of his domestic ban. I was also very suprised to see Marouane Chamakh make a late appearance in Germany in midweek. The Moroccan has somewhat become our forgotten man since a scintilating start to life in England 12 months ago and appears to be suffering from Torres syndrome with only one competitive goal since November 2010 (at home to Leyton Orient).

My score prediction for Saturday? Let's be optomistic. Just like the Swansea game, I'm going for a classic...*sings* one-nil to the ar-se-nal!

Post Match Reaction: Borussia Dortmund (A)

Ivan Perisic climbed off the bench to smash in a superb late volley and cruelly deny Arsenal 3 points in Germany.

Positives:
To hold a lead against the German champions, away from home, until the 89th minute, is no mean feat. We showed we have the quality to match most sides in Europe tonight, and at risk of sounding like Wenger, the 'mental strength' to play like champions and nab a goal against the run of play, before defending valiantly.
Mertesacker was a rock at the back, Song put in arguarbly his greatest ever shift in a red shirt, Szczesny continues to look as though he has between the sticks for a good 20 years, and Van Persie once again demonstrated why, when fit, he is one of the most lethal strikers in Europe.

Negatives:
With Wilshere, Diaby, Ramsey and Rosicky all missing, our midfield looked very lightweight and was pounced upon regularly by the brilliant Mario Gotze. Yossi Benayoun, though creative in attack, offers little defensively, and it was only when Arteta adopted a deeper role in the second half that our midfield looked a little firmer. Our ability to hold onto a lead is also something that continues to evade us following on from last season's various capitulations and this summer's Emirates Cup.

Conclusion:
Despite being dominated for large periods, our Champions League campaign is off to a solid start with a point in Dortmund. A fine Wojciech Szczesny save from Robert Lewandowski in injury time prevented us from finishing the match empty handed, but on a night when Arsene Wenger was forced to watch from the stands, you can't deny Borussia the point they deserved. A fair result all round.

Germany's Gotze Talent: Borussia Dortmund (A)

The Champions League starts once again and our opening fixture sees a very tricky game away to Bundesliga champions, Borussia Dortmund. Drawn in pot four, (a pot containing the likes SC Otelul) due to their lack of participation in the tournament in recent years, it's fair to say we got the rough end of the draw - One that Wenger believes is one of the toughest he has ever encountered.

Arsenal have qualified for the last 14 Champions League tournaments, getting beyond the group stages in the last 11. The boss believes that, in his experience, this is one of the strongest he has seen yet.

“Especially because Pot Four gave us Dortmund,” he said. “That’s why it is very difficult - Marseille, Dortmund and Olympiacos. Sometimes you discover the real difficulty when you are in it and when we play the games. It’s a good opportunity for us to get positive vibes, and we need a bit of that. Every team, no matter how good they are, needs confidence, and I believe my team needs that at the moment.

Dortmund are no pushovers and tomorrow night will really be an early test to the quality of this current side. Our last visit to the Westfallenstadion ended in defeat back in 2002 as now -Gunner Tomas Rosicky hit a brace in a display that would have encouraged Wenger to splash out on him just four years later.

Rosicky will sit this one out, along with injured quintet Vermaelen, Squillaci, Ramsey, Wilshere and Diaby, though suspended trio Gervinho, Alex Song and Emmanuel Frimpong return.

Much of the result of tomorrow night's clash will be dependant on the Arsenal defence's ability to cope with playmaker Mario Gotze - a man labelled by German legend Franz Beckenbauer as "the German Messi" - Though new signing Per Mertesacker will know his countryman's game inside out having faced him twice for former club Werder Bremen last season.

Post Match Reaction: Swansea (H)

It may be mid-September, but finally we are off and running in the league after recording our first league victory since the away trip to Blackpool last April!

The Talking Point:
A moment of sheer cheek from Ed Sheeran lookalike Andrey Arshavin saw the three points safely gift-wrapped in a goal reminiscent of Kanu's hat-trick at Stamford Bridge over ten years ago.

Positives:
We won a game of football!
Okay so it was only Swansea, and we were at home. But after recent form, three points was essential today. Not just for our league positioning, but for a confidence boost for the whole team. Banishing the horrors of Old Trafford a fortnight ago will never be easy but there is a sense of the season starting NOW at the Emirates and this is the first step to getting our year back on track. Arshavin looked lively all game and was making runs he wouldn't have bothered making in the last year or so. Let's hope the mercurial little Russian is getting back to his old self.
In other news, debutant Mikel Arteta looked assured in possession and could add the creative spark we have been missing since his fellow Spaniard's departure.

Negatives:
If I am to be fussy, it was perhaps frustrating to see us not put the game to bed with a second but if we have to endure a season full of Mourinho-esquue 1-0's to gain success, then so be it!

Conclusion:
Five new signings, and finally a victory in the league. There is still a long way to go to restore the precious reputation of this football club but at long last... we are heading the right way.

Sinking The Swans: Swansea (H)

Two weeks of soul searching have passed for Wenger, and after adding 5 new signings on transfer deadline day - most notably German giant Per Mertesacker and Spanish playmaker Mikel Arteta, there is a sense around the Emirates that the match against Swansea heralds a new dawn.

Mertesacker's addition is the commanding, experienced and physically demanding type of centre-back we've been longing for since Sol Campbell's departure first time round, and the former Bremen man has already endeared himself to the Emirates faithful, declaring a secret love for Gunners hero and double-winning skipper Tony Adams.

"We didn't get many pictures of him on the television but Adams was a legend here," he told Arsenal.com. "He is a special one for me. When I was looking at English football I always looked to Arsenal and he was one of the great defenders when I was ten or 12 years old. I knew he was the centre-half for Arsenal."

More important will be his ability to fit into Wenger's team effectively but the German international believes he will have few problems adapting to his new surroundings. "It is a little bit easier if you have played a World Cup for Germany and I hope I can use my experiences in my career," he told Arsenal Player. "We met England and that is a great experience I have. But I also have to improve myself and that should be my first thought."

Wenger, meanwhile, insists his transfer dealings were not driven by the United defeat. "Some of the transfers were linked with players going out like Santos and Park because I knew Bendtner and Traore would go out," he told a media briefing.

"Some of the other players were linked with the fact we have Wilshere out for a long time like Diaby. I knew as well that Vermaelen would have surgery the week before Manchester United so we needed to buy a centre-back. The midfield was a bit short because we now go into a time where we have the Champions League and the Carling Cup and we need a big squad."

Swansea, quite simply, is a must win. And after 5pm on Saturday, the mood surrounding us should have lifted considerably so long as three points are in the bag.