After winning our first game of the season away at Selhurst Park, we look to this weekend as we play our first home game against Leicester. The game kicks off at 3pm UK time (10am where I am).

It’s a game that most Arsenal supporters, myself included, would expect to win. Leicester have had a rough few months, losing a few key players with no incomings, as well as only managing a 2-2 draw in their opening match of the season.

During a live match, I find it difficult to pay attention to the little tactical details. But, if I can keep my nerves in check, I will be looking at a few broad themes throughout the match. The first of which would be…

Game Management

In our game against Crystal Palace, we had a really great opening 20 minutes or so and maintained a decent hold on the game up until about the last 5 minutes of the first half. After that, Palace dominated possession for the most part and we didn’t really create many dangerous opportunities for ourselves until we brought on our subs around the 80th minute. At that point, we were able to bring the game to them a bit and ended up with another goal to show for it.

It’s understandable to not dominate the whole 90 minutes, especially when it’s the first match of the season and you’re away from home. Even the best teams will be put on the back foot at times. But now, with us playing in front of what will likely be an energized and raucous home crowd, we should definitely be able to dominate possession for longer stretches and create a ton of good chances on goal. If we aren’t doing that by the time we hit the 60 minute mark, I'll be expecting to see Arteta looking towards…

The Bench

When the lineups are announced, the first thing that I'm looking at won’t be the starting eleven. I assume that will be the same as week one. I’ll be looking at the bench to see who is there and who isn’t. Have players like Vieira, Tomiyasu, and Smith-Rowe recovered enough from their preseason injuries to make it onto the bench? Will Marquinhos make the bench, or will he continue getting minutes with the under-21s? With only nine spots available, which players don’t make the cut this week?

Those questions will all likely be answered well before kickoff. However, the biggest question that I have regarding the bench is: will Arteta use it earlier against Leicester than he did against Palace? I, like many fans, thought that 80 minutes was quite late for Arteta to be making his first substitution, especially when you see the kind of immediate impact that they had.

I’m hoping Arteta will go to the bench earlier and use more of his available five subs this weekend. If we’re winning comfortably, it could be a great way to rest some weary legs and get some of the previously-injured players some game time to get back up to speed. If the game is tight, it’s one of the most effective ways to try to turn the tide of the game in our favor.

We have a lot of talent on our bench this season, but one name that isn’t on that bench that quite a few of us had expected would be by now is…

Youri Tielemans

It seems like Tielemans was one of the very first names linked with Arsenal way back at the beginning of the transfer window, and ever since then, the rumors have gone dark and reignited more times than a trick birthday candle. He’s a player that a lot of fans would be glad to have at Arsenal, and we’ll be watching him with great interest. Does he start for Leicester? How does he perform? Do we have Edu hand him a contract offer as he’s walking out of the tunnel onto the pitch? Who knows? Anything can happen.

It’s really an odd scenario. If he plays well, then fans will be frustrated that we didn’t try to sign him earlier. If he has a bad game, then fans might have second thoughts about whether or not he should be an Arsenal player. Perhaps this could be the final test that Arteta and the board are looking at to make that final call? Doubtful, but stranger things have probably happened.

Either way, I’m looking forward to this weekend and am really excited to see us keep the momentum going. I’m going to predict that this will be a 3-0 victory for Arsenal with a goal from Saka and a brace for Jesus in his Premier League home debut for Arsenal. COYG