Any other day, I’d expect this to be as easy a fixture on paper as they come. But last season taught us well enough that no fixture is a banker, not even a home game against a piddly little team from Hull.

Today we find ourselves travelling north to Wolverhampton to play the Old Gold and I reckon this has all the makings of a tight, combative affair. Wolves are a technically adept side who can pass it around well enough, and from the matches I have seen of them (all three were losses), the results disguised many of their on-the-ball strengths.

Cesc Fabregas reckons it will be a tough encounter, saying nothing but Arsenal’s best will do tonight. He says:

“We will have to be at our best as usual because today there are no small teams in the Premier League, everyone makes it difficult if you are not up for it, so we will have to be motivated to beat them.”

Welcoming a team with our big name is always a highlight for a team like Wolves’ season, so their home fans will be up for it, and their manager McCarthy will certainly be trying to pep up his players. These fixtures are never easy, so we will need to be up for it ourselves.

Concentration is the name of the game, and Arsene Wenger will hope for exactly that from the re-instated Manuel Almunia, who has the manager’s backing for the number one spot. Unbeknownst to us, Almunia was having to deal with the passing away of his mother-in-law, so I for one will make an apology for the insensitive chest-infection remarks that were made when trying to explain his absense. Sure, it’s what knocked him out initially, but I’m sure all of our thoughts are with him in this difficult time. He’s made a good enough return so far, and hopefully that can continue against Wolves tonight.

Meanwhile, Jamie Sanderson over at YoungGuns has his ear to the ground and believes that young Craig Eastmond will be in the squad today, presumably on the bench. Such a move has its sensibilities as Arsene Wenger scopes out possible stand-ins for Alex Song when he joins up with Cameroon in January. I wouldn’t advise taking off Song near the end though, unless we had a very healthy lead.

With that, time for a team prediction. Samir Nasri got 90 minutes under his belt against AZ Alkmaar in mid-week, but I reckon he will swap with Eduardo today, as the Crozillian slots in on the left and Nasri waits on the bench.

Bacary Sagna should reclaim his place at right back while Kieran Gibbs continues in place of Gael Clichy on the left. Diaby should continue his sojourn in the Arsenal line-up to lend some height and physicality against a pumped-up Wolves.

The rest is all as you were, and on paper, this is a good side with plenty of attacking depth. Enough to see off Wolves at home? It could be a tight one and don’t be surprised if we only win this by the single goal.

If that is the case, I would hope it’s a good, solid 1-0 to the Arsenal, to keep those clean-sheets coming. It’s the stuff that champions are made of, and despite our glut of goals to open the season, we need to keep the goals-against as low as possible. Nevertheless, it hasn’t stopped Carlo Ancelotti from rating us to the hills.

And with that, it’s time to make some dinner, possibly get a few extra winks in and get up at an absurd hour for the 5:30pm (UK time) start. That’s 3:30am this side, for those that don’t have a calculator. Terrible!

Then again, there’s nothing quite like an evening game in winter ‘oop norf’, is there? It’s stern, it’s character building, and it will be a bloody good barometer to see how far our team has come.

COME ON, ARSENAL – share your opinion, thoughts and predictions in the comments section below.

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