Preliminary Thoughts Pt 2

Arsenal

Another classic case of "were X that good or were Y just so bad?", and another cliched answer - a little bit of both. Arsenal lined up as expected, although Bendtner was arguably more defensively deployed than what is usual for someone in that front three. The other surprise in relation to Bendtner was how well he played. One of my guilty opinions is that I rate the arrogant Dane quite highly (though not nearly as highly as Nicholas Bendtner rates the arrogant Dane). Last season he scored something in the region of 14 goals, which was very good considering he was Arsenal's fourth choice front man when everyone was fit...which they never were. Even so, fourth choice suggests a lack of trustworthiness; 14 goals suggests otherwise. This could be a milestone season for the promising youngster, because injuries or no injuries, he's going to get games.

The other two surprises from Arsenal's 6-1 demolition of Everton were the central midfielders Song and Denilson. The former was particularly impressive, showing bite in the tackle as well as composure in possession. He's the reason I said in my predictions post that Arsenal don't urgently need a defensive midfielder (although some cover for him would be nice). I think Song can be for Arsenal what Toure is for Barcelona: a good ball winner and a good ball player. The Cameroonian has what every midfield player needs to have, and what I think Denilson still lacks - presence. What he needs now is to be consistently present to the point where a good Alex Song performance is not a surprise, but an expectation. He has the ability, but does he have the focus and determination to produce this sort of thing every week? This will be one of the key storylines this season.

Another encouraging aspect from Saturday's game -- and this is a sort of backhanded encouragement -- was that Arsenal won well without Arshavin playing well. Half the Russian's passes went astray, and things in general didn't work for him. There'll be days like this, of course. Still, that's the benefit of having such an array of attacking talent. A player like Arshavin can have an off day, but the likes of Fabregas and Van Persie can step up to the plate. When you think that Nasri, Rosicky and Walcott are still to come back, tihs Arsenal team will be an attacking force to be reckoned with, arguably more so than the Barcelona team of last season.

As Fabregas pointed out however, this is but one game. There are 37 more to go in the league, and hopefully many more in the Champions League and domestic cups. Arsenal have always been good at building on leads. We will only truly see what they are made of when they face a much sterner test, which will be coming in the shape of last year's champions in a number of weeks.

Barcelona -- the prototype for this Arsenal team -- had to win all sorts of ways last season. The Gunners must learn to do the same if they are to acheive what Wenger believes they can acheive. It's all well and good winning 6-1, but what about winning 3-2 thanks to two goals in the last ten minutes, a la Barca v Osasuna? Or to bring it closer to home, what about a sneaky injury time goal to clinch all three points against a team with nine men at the back, a la Chelsea? These are the games that separate title winners from also rans. I expect Arsenal to have quite a few more days like Saturday throughout the course of the season. To win things, though, they'll have to have a few Saturday's like Chelsea's, and they'll have to bounce back from a Sunday like Liverpool's. It's a long road ahead, but with the talent on show at the Emirates, it will be a road paved with the most attractive football on English shores.

United, Liverpool and Spurs (my Top 4 pick!) to come...