Thursday’s odds and ends, plus some predictions

Two days until Arsenal is back on the pitch. So, with that said, here’s my Thursday odds and ends, as well as some notes and quotes worth repeating…

Mikel Arteta today at his pre-match press conference, “I am really looking forward to having everyone available and trying to start the season the way we want. We don’t want to use any excuses, we know how difficult the start was with injuries, a lot of covid issues we had and the extremely difficult games that we had. We have to reset now and we need to start, get everyone back on track and start to win football games, which is what we have to do.” [Courtesy of Arsenal.com]

Arteta indicated this morning “the door is always open” for Jack Wilshere to train with the Gunners.

Takehiro Tomiyasu is in London, however, he is still waiting for his England work permit to be approved before he can join the club.

According to The Express and La Colina de Nervion, Arsenal will heavily pursue Sevilla striker Youssef En-Nesyri next summer to replace Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Massimiliano Maddaloni, who spoke to CMIT-TV said, “I too am convinced that Antonio Conte does not go to Arsenal. He is telling everyone that he wants to have a year off to restart with an important project next year and now Arsenal is not that.”

Congratulations to the US Men’s National Team for their 4-1 victory over Honduras in the CONCACAF WCQ yesterday.

Now, here are my Premier League predictions for Matchday 4:

ARSENAL 1 – Norwich City 0

Crystal Palace 1 – Tottenham Hotspur 3

Brentford 2 – Brighton and Hove Albion 2

Leicester City 1 – Manchester City 3

Manchester United 4 – Newcastle United 0

Southampton 1 – West Ham United 2

Chelsea 3 – Aston Villa 1

Leeds United 1 – Liverpool 4

Wolves 2 – Watford 2

Everton 3 – Burnley 0

Cheers.

Gunner1953