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Well apparently the news of the day is that in an interview, Arsene Wenger has finally admitted to his suspicious seeing problems when it comes to game-changing incidents on the pitch. We all knew that Wenger lied about not seeing incidents to get out of some tough questions, and to be honest, I’d do the same. There’s no reason he should provoke Jeff Shreeves’ probing questions in the tunnel about potential bookable offenses and penalty decisions. Sir Alex, after all, doesn’t talk to the BBC full stop, so why is this such a big deal? Well, mainly because Wenger is the most quiet, professional man in football, and any slip-up or admittance of guilt is so rare. But this is essentially a non-story. The only thing that will be interesting to see, is if he continues ‘not seeing things’ this season. If so, how will the interviewer handle it?

But I must admit, when I saw the Times headline ‘Wenger admits selective Myopia’, I thought to myself, “He’s done it! He’s admitted we need defenders!” And I was of course disappointed only to read about these meaningless on-field altercations. As I sunk back down to realizing that Mikael Silvestre will be our third choice center-back until Djourou returns from injury next month, an all too familiar feeling hit me. He’s actually not going to sign any defenders is he?

Sure we want him to. Sure he has the money to. Sure even he must know we need to. But he’s not going to do it is he? If he leaves our defense unchanged from here on out, we’re in big trouble. I expect the Senderos transfer to Everton to be completed early next week, and then we’re really in a mess. Maybe he’s waiting to sign another defender before officially unloading Senderos? A man can dream, can’t he? We all know Hangeland would be a good short term solution. But at 28, it’d be an awfully expensive buy in my opinion. Personally, long-term I want PSG’s Mamadou Sakho. He’s not ready yet, so I’d wait till next summer to snap him up, but he will be one of Europe’s top defenders in a matter of years. So who should we sign on a short-term basis to shore up our defensive worries? Well I’ll let you lot discuss that, because I’m too apprehensive about the potential inactivity to really make any predictions.

On the plus side, we are about 32 hours away from the start of our campaign. And I couldn’t be more excited. I am currently engulfed in the typical pre-season giddiness, and that really has no price. I was wearing my new away kit yesterday while buying a book at my local Waterstones, and the guy behind the counter asked how I thought Arsenal would fare this upcoming season and I just about talked his ear off about expectations vs. our actual performance and how, usually with Arsenal, there’s an inverse relationship.

Yes, yes, its all talk and no play, but thankfully that is about to change. I was looking at the Telegraph’s match preview and they apparently see us playing five strikers including an injured Walcott with Eduardo pairing with Cesc in a central midfield role, so that was an interesting take. I, on the other hand, see us lining up more like this:

van Persie

Arshavin——————-Bendtner

Cesc

Song———Denilson

Clichy——Vermaelen——Gallas——Sagna

Almunia

Now, I’d personally rather see Arshavin on the right, van Persie on the left with Eduardo up top. But, Wenger has his obsession with the new #52, so I’d be surprised if he were omitted. Well, that’s it from me. I’ll write a match report Sunday, whether we’ll be table toppers, or  wallowing in the early season relegation zone, well we’ll just have to wait and see…