It’s Friday morning at 6.30am in the UK and if my calculations are correct, the Arsenal vs MLS All Stars finished about three hours and 45 minutes ago, so my ability to provide any match report is completely undone by the fact that I was sound asleep in my bed.

Certainly you can question my commitment to the cause, but I just couldn’t give up a night’s rest for a friendly, regardless of how enticing it might have been to see how Granit Xhaka and Rob Holding got on. I’ll have to defer to those who watched the game on that one, but you can read the same match report I just read on the official site, which is here.

Joel and Chuba on the scoresheet will have done them both the world of good, but whether either gets anywhere near the first team this season, still remains to be seen. There’s been rumours of Campbell being told he can ‘jog on’ from the club, to which he’s denied and said he’ll fight for his place, but I personally can’t see him getting as much game time as he did last season. It’s fairly obvious Arsène doesn’t really fancy him that much, what with the way he scored and was the best player at home to Swansea last season, only to be removed from the first team in the next game. He only really got any game time because of injuries to others and I don’t know what it is about his style of play, but I’m still yet to be convinced by his technical ability. 

Sure, he can run and run all day, but that’s the kind of attribute that is perfect for mid to lower Premier League teams. For those fighting at the top, you usually need to have a bit more technical ability about you to succeed. I know all of this sounds rather harsh, but I just don’t think he’ll be at the club if we get this mystery wide man, that nobody has talked about in.

I think the same goes for the other Arsenal goalscorer (I’m completely omitting the fact that Drogba did us again – can’t wait for the day that guy retires!) Chuba Akpom. He’s always had much promise about him, but it just doesn’t feel like he’s ever going to be given the chance. If Arsenal don’t sign that all important striker this summer, it’s likely Arsène would opt for Giroud, Walcott or even Alexis up top, before Chuba gets a shout. Hopefully this goal will have done him the power of good and perhaps he’ll Get another chance on Monday when Arsenal play again, followed by next Friday when they line up against the Vikings. But he’s got to do something special in those next couple of games – I think – before Arsène Anelkafies his plans so that he’s putting his eggs in the Akpom basket. When Nicholas signed for us and was given a shot in the first team at 18, we had more expectation that Davor Suker would be the big signing that would make it though, so if Arsène came out and said he’d put his faith in Akpom, can you imagine the online meltdown? 

But hey, the world was different then, and people didn’t go cray-cray at every single word someone on the board would say. The only way of abating the fans then was playing and scoring and if Chuba gets a hatful of goals in the next few games, maybe a few will come around to the idea that he could make it. 

I’m not sure that’ll happen though and I’m not sure he’ll make it. So as somebody who wants to see us as competitive as possible, I’m hoping we do go out and get that striker we need, and sharpish too.

Right, that’s yer lot from me, I go into London for a half day of work and a booze-fuelled afternoon as a staff ‘summer social’.