I don’t know you, but I feel empty without football, without the Arsenal. At least, that’s how I felt after the last kick of the ball in the match against Stoke City two months or so ago. In a way, I wanted the new season to come quickly, not only to have our beloved game of football back, but also to put behind last season, a very disappointing one.

And now, here we are, 24 hours away from the start of our official season. We did keep you company here at The Gunning Hawk with all the latest news about the club throughout the summer and are now ready to start our own season in terms of reports and analysis. Those who didn’t appreciate my style of writing or my opinions last season when I was alone will be glad to know that two new writers will join me this season, Michael and Hasmat, both excellent writers I’m delighted to have on board.

Anyway. We are not exactly in the best possible position ahead of tomorrow’s game, are we? The injury list – even though this is our first official game – is long, very long and that’s no good.

Make no mistake, the eleven who will start are good enough to start regardless of the injury status of the squad but if one of them suffers an injury or is not playing well, the bench may not be as strong as one would like to. Elsewhere I read that Wenger should sign a defender because Djourou is out for a month but one, Djourou – at least for me – was not to be considered a regular this season, not ahead of Gallas and Thomas at least. And two, you don’t panic buy after someone gets injured, you buy before that happens so as to have a backup plan.

But anyway, with Walcott, Nasri, Diaby, Rosicky and Djourou all out injured, there’s not plenty to choose from for the starting line-up and I would opt for the below:

In terms of back four, there are no other options I’m afraid. In midfield, Song should start after his positive performance against Valencia, to support Fabregas. In midfield, with Samir, Tomas and Theo all sidelined, Carlos Vela should start on the left. The youngster played only 30 minutes in Mexico’s 2-1 win over USA last Wednesday so hopefully he’s not tired. If Vela is not fit, then let’s hope to see Jack Wilshere who impressed in pre-season friendlies and therefore deserves to be rewarded.

Up front, despite scoring with his national side, I would keep Eduardo on the bench and start with Bendtner, for the simple reason that we need someone strong up there against the Everton back four.

This is what Everton’s David Moyes had to say on Jo’s injury:

When Jo went over on his ankle, we did not really think it was that bad, so we hope that he is going to be okay for the weekend.

He is back running now but is only doing straight line work. He is not twisting and turning yet but we hope to do that kind of work with him in the next couple of days.

Finally, Arsene Wenger’s comments:

We have some problems.

We have Theo Walcott, who is not available. [Abou] Diaby has a little groin problem, but he could be available. [Also] we have lost Johan Djourou and Lukasz Fabianski because they had injuries.

As always, tune in for team line-ups, streaming links, half time and full time reports, post-match thoughts, video highlights and what the press is writing. And of course, do contribute if you want to by making use of the comment box available at the bottom of the post as it’s always nice to hear your opinion. And as a final note, if you want to go one step further than just leaving a comment and want to have your articles published on our website, take a look here for more information.