Arsenal v Liverpool 3 Things To Watch For

This weekend marks the start of a new season, but will Arsenal finally show up or will it be disappointments all throughout the season.

It has been a long summer, and all of us here at Pain in the Arsenal have had an even longer one. It pains me to say we all entered the summer with a foolish sense of hope, with discussions of big name transfers, a new striker, improved depth for the back.

It doesn’t take a genius to notice that Arsenal are just a few players and a few bounces away from finally ending their 10+ year drought. However, it pains me to say that Arsenal spent their summer doing what Arsenal does best, purchasing more midfielders and betting on a young defender while claiming existing strikers are world-class.

Therefore, part of me isn’t looking forward to this season because all of me knows that nothing will be different. We will win games, and we will lose games. Mostly though, we will strive to be in the top four and disappoint everyone who bought an expensive jersey or a ridiculously priced ticket and tell them that Arsenal can’t compete monetarily with the big names.

That being said, here are three things to watch for:

Venue: Emirates Stadium

Date: 14 Aug (EST)

Prediction: Arsenal 1-2 Liverpool

1) History repeats itself

I will begin this by stating facts provided by eurosport.com. Arsenal has lost its last three home openers, and Liverpool have won three consecutive opening weekends.

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As an Arsenal fan, I think I have slowly become more accustomed to opening week disappointments. We will all be very impressed with the first 15 minutes of the game, but it is almost a guarantee that after 90 minutes there will be more complaints than compliments.

History loves to repeat itself, and Wenger not buying a world-class striker and not buying more depth to strengthen a thin back four will ultimately mean Arsenal will not score enough goals to beat their opponents but not defend well enough to win the close game. What Arsenal will do is create the most chances and have the most amazing ‘what-if’ moments.

As per Squawka.com in 38 league games, Arsenal created 464 chances only to score 65 goals. That’s a conversion rate of 14.32%, and to put that into perspective Alex Rodriguez, a 41 year-old baseball player who is retiring because he isn’t any good anymore, has a batting average of .204

2) The Ox will Shine?

Every year I seem to have a similar heading as something to watch for. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is without a doubt one hell of a player. He is also the embodiment of Arsenal: potential on paper, amazing in the preseason, all the hype, only to be injured and come back next year the exact same.

(Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images) /

As per Squawka in 22 appearances, Chamberlain created 19 chances but only scored one goal with a shot accuracy of 38%. Yet there are certain players on this team I never give-up on, one of them is Ozil, the other is Oxlade-Chamberlain. Maybe it’s the curse of a dream/Gooner but just imagine a midfield with Sanchez, Ozil and the preseason Ox.

Often times that picture makes me smile because, at 22 years old, the Ox still has time to change how most fans view him. His ability to combine strength with skill and speed is second to none and for the closest comparison of what can be look no further than Ross Barkley’s amazing season two seasons ago. One can only hope.

3) Granit Xhaka will be invisible

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With all honesty I loved the Xhaka signing. A player that brings a bit of strength but a lot of skill to the center of the pitch is like combining Cazorla and Coquelin. As per Squawka in 28 appearances in the German league, Xhaka created 22 chances but also contributed to 137 attempted tackles and 121 fouls.

His average pass length was 20 meters, yet he had a pass accuracy of 85%, which just sounds like a treat for a team with players like Sanchez, Chamberlain, Iwobi and maybe Walcott.

However, despite all of the numbers sounding amazing I fear we will be disappointed this weekend. Mainly because Xhaka still hasn’t played enough games with his teammates to make connections on amazing plays.

Also because his physicality in the German league may equate to child play in the Premier League. But I have faith that he will slowly become a household name and will only make the players around him better even if he had no striker to pass the ball to.

Next: Arsenal's Top 10 Prospects

Good luck to the Gunners this season and to all you fans I hope we can come back to this article at the end of the season and say I was wrong.