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Arsenal: Unai Emery handed greatest gift by Premier League
By Josh Sippie
Arsenal will be facing Manchester City at the Emirates in the opening match of the 2018/19 Premier League season. What a gift.
Arsenal’s opening fixture of the 2018/19 season has been unveiled and – surprise! It’s Manchester City! Which would normally feel like some heavy dosage of doom and gloom, but honestly, I think it is the greatest gift that the Premier League could have handed Unai Emery.
While City are indeed the Premier League champions after an insane season that did what I thought was impossible – made me hate them even more – I can not think of a better scenario for Unai Emery’s first ever match with the Gunners.
For starters, it’s a baptism by fire, which I simply love. Throwing a guy into the thick of it and letting him learn from the tumult of it all is just such a fantastic way to help someone learn.
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But more than that, the expectations are low. If Arsenal’s opener was against, say, Huddersfield Town at the Emirates, than a loss would be, quite literally, the worst thing in the world. Fans would lose their minds, panic buttons would be hit, hit again, then thrown into the wall for not being able to be hit enough.
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To play Manchester City, there is a bit of conceivable deniability. If we lose, well, it was Manchester City, what do you expect? They’re really good. Plus, Unai Emery has to learn his way here. No big deal, right? Maybe a few grunts and groans that we missed a chance, but no panic buttons are being hit. Nothing even close to that.
If we win? Then Emery has started his Arsenal career off in the best possible fashion. He has beat the best that England has to offer, and he did it in front of a home crowd that is already begging for a reason to love him.
It would be a win and so much more. It would be a statement.
And since it is at home, there is actually plenty of reason to believe that it can indeed happen. With a team that is coming together nicely and a new man at the helm, plus a fresh wave of optimism at the Emirates, I’d like to think that we can find ourselves on equal footing with City given the right mindset.
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Stomping them at home would be a kickstart to that ‘right mindset.’ So thank you, Premier League, for finally doing Arsenal a favor.