Happy Saturday, you wonderful humans. The countdown to kick off is well and truly underway now. Some will say that it properly starts after the World Cup, but for me with today being the final bit of friendly preparation for Mikel Arteta and his team ahead of West Ham in nine days time, this is the one that will hopefully give us the closest indication on who is ready to play and who we will be seeing lining up on Boxing Day. There are a vast bulk of our players who are now back in training, with the likes of Ramsdale, White, Partey, Xhaka, all being featured, so the question will be on who we will see in the match day squad today. I think we’ll have everybody from the first team squad barring William Saliba and then maybe Takehiro Tomiyasu, given his comments and how hard the World Cup exit seemed to hit him compared to the others.

So for me what I want to hear about from today is that Bukayo Saka and Martinelli are given minutes – even if it is a token 20 from the bench – to show that they will be part of the start of the second part of the campaign. And when you think about it, we kind of can’t really afford for them not to be involved, can we? Getting them in there today – even on the bench – means that we are showing that these guys are ready to rock and roll and with the disappearance of Gabriel Jesus due to injury, giving some hope that we have the first choice wide forwards either side of Eddie Nketiah feels like it would be significant in boosting morale of the team overall.

I also hope that we can have a bench option for ESR. He’s been training, the club and Arteta hinted that we could see him soon over a week ago, so my hope it that maybe he’s another one who can get a little run out at the end. Imagine if we could see him for 10 minutes? That would give everyone a lift, because we’d know that we have him as a returning bench option from day one of the resumption of the league on Boxing Day. We’ve lost Gabriel Jesus and so column inches have been taken up by journalists and Arsenal fans like me asking the question as to how we are going to counter balance the massive loss of Gabriel Jesus. Well, having options like Fabio Vieira or ESR stepping up and making an impact from the bench could be just the ticket.

There should also be a question at left back too and whilst Zinchenko hasn’t played this second pre season so far, it sounds like he’ll be ready for Boxing Day, so I wonder if Arteta will give him 45 and maybe give Kieran Tierney 45 too, providing his knock in the friendly in Dubai isn’t more serious. We are going to need Tierney and chucking him out in the cold isn’t the answer to me. This game is a perfect example of how you as a manager can keep everyone guessing so give both players 45 minutes and see how you get on.

in fact, I wonder if that’s what Arteta will do today i.e. split the teams in two for the two halves. For example, he could start with this team for the first half:

Ramsdale

Cedric   –   Holding   –   Gabriel   –   Zinchenko

Odegaard   –   Elneny   –   Xhaka

Saka   –   Nketiah   –   Nelson

Then at halftime switch out for the other rotated players, for example:

Turner

Tomiyasu   –   White   –   Gabriel   –   Tierney

Vieira   –   Partey   –   Lokonga

Marquinhos   –   Nketiah   –   Martinelli

I don’t think he will go with this, as there may be an element of wanting your strongest team for say 60 minutes so they all have minutes in their legs and start to get refreshed on playing together having been a month apart, getting those Big Per Mertesacker ‘automatisms’ working again. But if you’re looking to say to your players that everyone has a chance, then this keeps everyone guessing, but also West Ham and Brighton too, who I bet will have scouts at the game to watch how we line up. I would probably not go as heavy on rotation across all positions by halftime, but maybe by 60 minutes I’d be looking to getting a few players playing together, but what you don’t want is for players to think that they are basically just playing in the reserve team. For example if KT is brought on with 30 minutes to go along with a load of kids, I’m not sure how much confidence that fills him with that he’s going to get any minutes come the start of the proper stuff.

So I think Arteta has to think carefully about how his side set up.

As for our opponents, Juve aren’t exactly bringing all of their big guns today. Of the players who make regular appearances for their first team in Serie A, their squad is missing Danilo, Kostic, Cuadrado, Rabiot (obviously), Vlahovic, Weston Mckennie, Paredes (obviously), Bonucci, Szczesny, Di Maria (obviously) and Milik too. So they are missing a raft of players and apart from Locatelli, Miretti, Gatti, Rugani and Kean, it looks like a pretty undercooked squad to me. My hope, therefore, is that we can continue the positive form that we’ve shown in pre season one and now pre season two, keeping momnetum going and showing Juve a good game with some positive performances in the team.

But above all – and I don’t think I or any Gooner can stress this enough: PRAY THAT NOBODY GETS INJURED OR EVEN PICKS UP A KNOCK.

If we get nothing else from this game other than fitness in the legs and nobody injured, I will absolutely, unequivocally, 100% take that.

If you’re going today then have fun. I’m doing a bit of a ‘stay at home Christmas’ with the wife today as we do a lot of travelling to see family over the holidays, so I’ll be eating myself a bit of turkey and drinking myself stupid today.

Have a good one whatever you are doing and I’ll catch you all tomorrow!