The new fixtures for the 2015/2016 season have been announced and you can see the full list here, on the official Arsenal website.

We host West Ham United on the opening day, and then have games against Crystal Palace (A), Liverpool (H), Newcastle United (A), Stoke City (H), Chelsea (A) and Leicester City (A) to complete the fixtures for August/September.

We start October with a home fixture against Manchester United, we have Tottenham at home in November and then we have Manchester City in mid-December.

I’ve always said you should judge Arsenal after the first 10 games and see where they are then. Last season, we had an awful start and that, in the end, made a difference to our title challenge. Our form from January onwards was the best in the entire league, but our World Cup hangover put us in a position where we had too much to do to catch Chelsea.

So the lesson is clear – we need to start the season in top top form.

Chelsea topped the league for pretty much the whole season, so giving them an early lead is simply not an option. Our first 10 games in full are:

West Ham United (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Liverpool (H)
Newcastle United (A)
Stoke City (H)
Chelsea (A)
Leicester City (A)
Manchester United (H)
Watford (A)
Everton (H)

Out of the 10 games, there are 4 games where we could drop points, and the others should* be straightforward.

(* but things are never straight forward in football are they?)

The games against Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United and Everton are most likely to be the ones where we could have problems. Liverpool are an unknown quantity at the moment and depending on their transfer dealings in the summer, could either be a real threat or sitting ducks. Chelsea will be formidable as always and at Stamford Bridge I would like Arsenal just not to lose that one. Manchester United at home will be tough, with LVG not afraid to park the bus and Everton are one of those sides that on their day, can cause problems.

The other games though should be winnable.

So it’s vital Arsenal are ready to come out of the blocks flying and get as many points on the board as early as possible. By mid-October we should know if Arsenal are capable of mounting a real title challenge.

Arsenal also launched a new home kit for the 2015/2016 season and by all accounts, Puma once again pulled out all the stops and delivered a big kit launch.

Danny Welbeck, Santi Cazorla, Tomas Rosicky, Nacho Monreal and Hector Bellerin were all in attendance, alongside Arsenal legend and Puma ambassador Thierry Henry who introduced proceedings.

But what about the kit itself?

I think it looks good but that’s pretty much it.

Will I be buying it?

Probably not.

I spent a lot of money (from the official Arsenal store) on last seasons home shirt, which had Alexis 17 on the back and I also had Premier League patches added on as well. It cost me a lot of money and I always buy my shirts from Arsenal – but I can’t really justify buying this seasons one. It’s only going to last one season and I’m still a bit miffed that the shirt I bought only lasted one campaign.

I understand about maximising revenues but one kit a season is to me, ridiculous. And to be perfectly honest, the new kit is “kind of similar” to the one I’ve already purchased so I won’t be losing any sleep over not having this one.

In terms for Arsenal shirts, I’ve pretty much bought every single home one since the 1993-1994 season in the good old JVC days. I also have quite a few away shirts (including the 1989 yellow one, signed by Paul Merson) to boot so have spent a hell of a lot of money on Arsenal shirts. But I just can’t justify buying the new one for this season, unless I somehow manage to get a big windfall of cash come my way!

Liverpool have agreed a deal with James Milner, who leaves Manchester City on a free.

He was linked with a few clubs, including Arsenal, and some of our fans wanted Arsene Wenger to sign him up. Presumably because of his experience at the top level, and his versatility.

I for one was one of those who didn’t want James Milner. I’m not going to bash Milner because I think he is a really good player – but just not an Arsenal type of player. And the issue isn’t just whether he would fit in, but how Arsene would use him.

At 29 years old, Milner would want to be guaranteed first team football and if he came to Arsenal he would be a squad player. A fantastic squad player, but just a squad player. Also, another problem is he wages he is on. At Manchester City he was getting paid well, but there’s no way he would be on the same at Arsenal. So in the end it was a non-starter and Liverpool seems a good fit for him – he doesn’t have to move house and uproot his family, and Liverpool are stupid enough to pay him stupid money.

We’ve also been linked with Petr Cech, but that’s another story that refuses to go away and will never happen. Jose Mourinho has a special bond with his players, and there’s no way Petr Cech would betray him and join a club Mourinho doesn’t want him to go to.

So again that’s another non-starter.

Raheem Sterling’s representatives are doing well to get him in the shop window, and apparently Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and PSG are all interested in the overrated forward.

It’s amazing how many players believe their own hype. Let’s be real for a second here – Chelsea and Real Madrid for example have a squad full of established superstars, who have a record of winning titles. Where would Sterling fit into that? Are you telling me that Sterling would get in the team ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Isco, James Rodriguez and Karim Benzema? The kid wouldn’t last 5 minutes there and isn’t good enough to tie their laces.

The angle the press are using for an apparent approach by Arsenal is that we would trade him for Theo Walcott. Theo Walcott is ten times the player Sterling is and has done a hell of a lot more in the game that Sterling has. What has Sterling won again? And what has he done? Oh yes he had half a good season playing alongside Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge. So that’s another non-story.

The press know rumours sell papers and get website hits and they always make up stories about Arsenal, which the fans really need to just ignore. But if you look at Twitter, we’re bringing in about 25 players. One of those is Geoffrey Kondogbia, if you believe The Mirror.

I can’t pretend that I know much about him, but if I was a betting man I don’t think he’ll be in Arsenal colours next season. Every man and his dog knows that Arsenal’s “spine” needs to be strengthen this summer so for the next 4 months we’re going to be linked with every goalkeeper, central defender, defensive midfielder and striker going.

Silly season has started and agents are trying to get that lucrative deal for their players via a big move to an English or Spanish club, and the media lap it up. I think I’m going to make a list of all the players we’ve been linked with over the summer and see how many it is by the end of the transfer window – I’m sure it’ll make for interesting reading.

Then we get on to Jack Wilshere and Wociech Szczesny.

Now opinion on them is mixed. Some fans think they are both a disgrace, while others have come in full support of them.

Fans who slate Wilshere and Szczesny say that Jack was being a chav and shouldn’t be swearing in front of a crowd which would obviously contain young children, and that our former number one shouldn’t be doing something as stupid as smoke, which isn’t great for his health.

Then you have those who praise Jack, saying he was just connecting with the fans because he is a true Arsenal fan. And on Twitter in defence of Szczesny, you see all of those posts of Wilshere, Zidane and even Arsene Wenger having a smoke, as if that is proof that it’s okay.

Here’s my take on the whole thing.

In regards to Jack Wilshere, it certainly doesn’t look great does it? He does look like a chav with his stupid hat and singing that song was stupid to me. I’m not hanging him for murder like a lot of people are and I’m not outraged – but it was ill advised and pretty stupid to do. He had the ticking off last season so why try and win some cheap “support” by singing that song? The Arsenal fans already love Jack so there was no need for it, and it wasn’t helped by his appearance (looking from the outside in). I’m not going to slate him for it, but when we’ve just won back to back FA Cups then it’s not nice to have something stupid tarnish it.

Then the smoking. It’s the second time Szczesny has been “caught” now and you get the impression that he likes the attention. I suppose your viewpoint will be based on your own lifestyle and experiences, and unlike the Jack situation where I’m in-between opinions, this one I’m not. Szczesny was fucking stupid. Smoking is a disgusting habit and I’ve had friends suffer from the effects of it. To me, it’s a legal drug which can cause all kinds of health problems and I am someone who truly hates smoking.

So for a professional athletic to do it is really idiotic, especially when you should be in peak physical condition. You can debate whether smoking really makes a difference to your performances on the pitch but at the end of they day they are very, very well-paid and if I was serious about a career in football and was lucky enough to be part of that industry, then I could stop myself from being a complete dick.

Anyway, there’s my two cents. Leave your thoughts in the comments section below and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Last weekend, Theo Walcott started up front against West Brom and scored a fantastic hat-trick.

Theo has scored 4 goals (I’m giving him that one against Manchester United) in less that 90 minutes (he was replaced by Giroud on 69 minutes and came on against United on 72 minutes) and is certainly the man in form.

Olivier Giroud however has failed to score in 8 games and following a decent season, is certainly in a slump.

And perhaps most worryingly he didn’t manage to score in the FA Cup semi-final against Reading.

So who should start?

Theo’s movement and pace can cause any team problems and he usually performs best against the lower sides in the league – which is what Aston Villa are. Giroud fails to score in the big games, especially at Wembley.

If I was Arsene Wenger, I would start Theo and you always have the option to bring on Giroud if things are going our way. Theo’s pace and trickery can hurt Villa whereas Giroud will find it tough against a big and strong Villa defence.

But the overwhelming feeling is that Arsene bring predictable as he is, will stay loyal to Giroud and start the big Frenchman in the final. I just wish Arsene would take a gamble and start Theo – as that’s something Aston Villa won’t be expecting.

So who do you think should start up front for Arsenal tomorrow? Olivier Giroud or Theo Walcott?

Cast your vote below and leave your thoughts in the comments section!

Is Olivier Giroud a good enough striker to help Arsenal win the Premier League title? And the simple options are either yes or no:

There has been a lot of debate recently about the quality of Olivier Giroud, sparked by his below par performance against Monaco in the first leg of that Champions League tie. Then it reignited when Thierry Henry said that Arsenal’s spine needed strengthening in the summer if they wanted to win the biggest trophies, such as the Premier League trophy and Champions League.

There’s no doubt we need a world class goalkeeper, and despite the impressive performances of Francis Coquelin, we could do with another defensive midfielder to help with the 50 odd games we have in a season. It would be unfair to ask Le Coq to perform week in, week out over an entire season.

In midfield and attack we are fully stocked, with Coquelin, Ramsey, Wilshere, Cazorla, Özil, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo Walcott and Alexis Sanchez – then we have Rosicky, Diaby, Arteta and Flamini to add depth to the squad.

So it is up front where we are struggling. We only have two recognised ‘centre forwards’; Danny Welbeck is an excellent team player who works hard and grafts for the team, and Olivier Giroud is our main target man.

So the big question is do we have a striker who can score 25 plus goals a season? One thing we’ve missed over the last two seasons (three arguably) is a forward who can score goals on a regular basis, and also make the difference in tight games.

Robin van Persie, Emmanuel Adebayor and Thierry Henry were the last strikers to score more than 25 goals in a season (with all three managing to score close to – if not more than – 30 goals in a single season). They all also scored in big games, finding the net against sides like Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester City.

Olivier Giroud’s performances against the big sides have been okay, but there is evidence that he doesn’t score in the big games – and these are the games that matter. He didn’t score in the FA Cup final last season, he didn’t score at Old Trafford (twice) even though he had a host of chances, and hasn’t scored against Chelsea or Tottenham. He did score against Liverpool and Manchester City away however.

The game last weekend at Old Trafford was particularly frustrating. Granted, Manchester United had more of the game in the first half but Arsenal did well to get themselves back into the game in the second, playing with more confidence and taking the game to the home side. We found ourselves in a lot more attacking positions and Giroud wasted three good opportunities to score. Take one of those and we would have come home with all 3 points.

I am not questioning his commitment and effort, but the fact is Olivier Giroud is limited in areas such as finishing. I love the guy, but you can’t help think that a more clinical striker would give Arsenal something more and push us on to the biggest honours. I realise that it’s not so black and white – he is an excellent target striker who holds the ball up well for example – but I do feel he is holding the team back.

He’s never professed to be a world class striker and when I watch Arsenal you can see Özil getting frustrated at not having a world class forward to feed in. Özil is the assist master and someone who will create chance after chance after chance. At Real Madrid, he had a lightening fast warrior in Cristiano Ronaldo to feed and that team used to score a ridiculous amount of goals. With Olivier Giroud in the team, you feel that we are not maximising the talents of our most expensive player.

So do you think Olivier Giroud is good enough to get us to the biggest honours? Or do we need a better striker?

Cast your vote and leave your thoughts in the comments section below!