A new season of the Premier League is coming up, and with it, yet another chance for Mikel Arteta and Co. to end their League trophy deadlock once and for all. After over a month of Euro and Copa America and a good period of vacation following it, we are finally getting back to Premier League football. The Premier League 23/24 season is all set to start on August 17, and the North Londoners will be facing Wolves in their first game the same day.
The Gunners ended their last Premier League season finishing second, falling just two points short of Manchester City. This is the closest they have ever come, clinching the title in close to two decades. Not to mention the same thing happened the season before that, where they also came second behind Manchester City. They were the top contender during the 22/23 season right from the start, but they just couldn’t keep their form until the end. This is what Arteta will be looking solve in the upcoming season: the fine edge that keeps Arsenal from crossing Manchester City to the title. They have a brilliant team, a squad full of aspiring young talents who have all proven their worth in the last two seasons. Arteta will be looking to make the right tunings that can make them unstoppable.
Wolverhampton Wanderers has become a mid-table team for the last few seasons. The team was making great progress under Nuno and even came seventh, their best so far, in the 19/20 season. It looked like they might end up getting a European spot in the coming seasons, but their performance started going downhill, and till now, it has remained the same after Nuno left. Gary O’Neil did show promise after he was brought during mid-season but ended up finishing 13th after a streak of losing points. However, there are good signs for the club as they have been able to show clear intent in their style of play under O’Neil. They have also been brilliant in their pre-season camp, winning comfortably against teams like West Ham United and RB Leipzig. They have lost only one match in all of the pre-season outings against Crystal Palace.
Keep yours locked for the Arsenal vs. Wolves encounter set for Premier League matchday one on August 17, Saturday, 8 pm.
Arsenal Team Preview
Arsenal has been the best in the Priemer Leguee, trailing just behind Guardiola’s Manchester City. Arsenal has come second for the last two seasons and missed out on the PL title by inches. They were even the best for the majority of their last season, with Mancher City coming back up right at the end. Fans would still be saddened by the ending of 23/24 because of how close the north Londoners came to winning the title after more than 20 years. However, this should motivate Miker Arteta to make an even better team strategy than the one in the last season.
This has been evident in the efforts of new signings by Arteta’s management. Despite having an almost perfect squad, he’s still looking for talents who can help him outplay Guardiala’s strategies once and for all. The Gunners have brought in a center-back, Riccardo Calafiori, to the camp, a great young talent who has already shown his potential in his old club. Arsenal had to readjust and change its plans in the defense due to Jurriën Timber missing out almost the entire last season with an injury inflicted right after his debut. This might have prompted Arteta to bring in a center back and also to strengthen the bench. He is also looking for potential midfielders for the of company Declan Rice and Odegard. And with Emile Smith Rowe gone to Fulham, he will want a capable midfielder in his squad to take his place.
With or without new signings, Arsenal is already a very balanced technical team. The young energy in the squad is what helped the Gunners snatch 4 points from Manchester City last season. When you have a midfielder like Martin Odegard in the lineup, you automatically get an edge in terms of technicality and ball supply. Not to mention, who accompanies him. Declan Rice was exceptional in his debut season for Arsenal. Even though the management had to pay a high price, he fit into Arteta’s system right away and showed what he was capable of throughout the season.
Arteta’s decision to bring in Kai Havertz from Chelsea proved to be decisive as he played tremendously throughout the season and scored 13 goals. Havertz, playing as the central forward, with Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martenili cutting in from the two sides, has turned out to be the Premier League’s one of most dangerous forward line. Even though they haven’t been at their best during the pre-season games, they should be able to find their rhythm soon.
Arteta could have built his dream team last season had his defender Jurriën Timber not succumbed to an injury Knee at his very debut match. However, this time around, Arteta has addressed the problem by bringing another capable Italian center back to the team. With Ben white extending his contract, the likes of Tomiyasu in the role of left back, and Timber coming back to the squad, Arsenal might end up building the most capable defense line in the league.
Predicted XI: Raya(GK), White, Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Timber, Rice, Odegaard, Havertz, Saka, Jesus, Trossard
Wolves Team Preview
Wolves were thought to be of great potential after Nuno Espírito Santo joined them as their head coach. They even came in seventh in the 19/20 season and missed out on a European spot by slight margins. However, towards the end of Nuno’s stint, things started to look bad for the team. Most of their star players left the club after Nuno got his job at Tottenham Hotspur, and they have been pretty much the same ever since. But with Gary O Neil joining the camp in the middle of the 23/24 season, things have looked sharper for the Wanderers. Even though they still finished 13, they had some great streak of matches after he came in, which is nothing sort of great for a team changing its coach mid-season. Much is hoped for him now that he has got enough time to prepare and devise a concrete plan for a season.
O Neil has already started to deliver on his promises as Wolves has been performing great in the pre-season games. Wolves have played 5 matches till now, winning four of them. In their first major encounter, they faced West Ham, where they beat them 3-1. They put on an impressive performance and won the game comfortably at the end, even after West Ham took an early lead. However, they lost their next match against Crystal Palace by 3-1, which could have been otherwise had it not for some silly mistakes made by their players. They made a strong comeback in their next outing against RB Leipzig, where they beat them 3-0.
Gary O Neil has done several signings for the next season, and some of them have already started to deliver. They have transferred in players like Jorgen Strand Larsen, Pedro Lima, and most notably, Rodrigo Gomes, who had 14 goal involvements for his former club in the last season. Gomes has already shown his potential, scoring twice against West Ham coming off the bench. He won the match for his team, which at the start was one goal down. He again scored a goal against RB Leipzig, sealing the win for Wolves. He might end up becoming a key figure in the upcoming season.
Even though they have boarded some good players, they have also lost a key figure, Maximilian Kilman, to West Ham. This may become costly for the Wanderers, as he was their best defender in the team. There are also rumors of Pedro Neto leaving the club, which will definitely be a big blow for O Neil, considering Neto’s ability to bring attacking prowess to the team. He has a very good record for the club despite starting for just 19 matches last season.
Predicted XI: José Sá(GK), Semedo, Mosquera, Toti, Ait-Nouri, Lemina, Doyle, Sarabia, R Gomes, Hee-chan, Larsen
Arsenal vs Wolves Betting Odds
Arsenal 1.22 – 6.25 Draw –15.00 Wolves (Bet365)
Arsenal vs Wolves Head-to-Head Stats
Since 2003, Arsenal and Wolves have faced each other a total of 20 times in the Premier League, with Arsenal prevailing in 16 of them. Wolves have only won in three matches. The last time Wolves defeated Arsenal was in 2021 when they beat them by 2-1. Surprisingly enough, they also beat Arsenal in the other encounter of the 20/21 season.
The biggest win Wolves ever had over Arsenal was in 2019, when they beat them 3-1. In their last five outings, Arsenal won convincingly against Wolves.
Arsenal vs Wolves Betting Tips and Predictions
Arsenal is expected to win their game against the Wolves, and very few would think otherwise. Arsenal was one of the best, if not the best, teams last season and should continue to be. Even though they have not been the most convincing in their pre-season camp, they should soon find their form, given the history of Arteta. Also, seeing the quality of transfers Arsenal is making or trying to make, they should be able to assemble a balanced and ready team by the time the season starts.
Till now, Wolves have had a great pre-season in contrast to Arsenal’s. They have shown some great signs in the field and have also seemed to have drastically improved their goal-scoring capabilities. As things stand, the Wolves might not be able to prevail against Arsenal, but they could very well put up a tough fight.