ARSENAL

Arsenal should have no problem beating Aston Villa in their Premierleague opener - 4:0 to the Gunners!!
The midfield has never looked better, with Hleb patrolling the right, Aliadiere adding his own share of creativity and pace, Reyes and Rosicky lurking dangerously on the left (perhaps the versatile Czech can even play a la Bergkamp?!), and with Fabregas and Gilberto dictating play from center-mid...what is much more worrisome is the huge hole stemmizng from the departures of Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole. Granted, although the latter has not yet left the Club, the possibility is still there, a possibility over which Arsene Wenger is losing sleep.

Had Philippe Senderos not been injured that defensive void would surely have been filled, the energetic Swiss having given master performances for his country during the World Cup; but this not being the case, a new defender must be brought in to avoid seing Mathieu Flamini the only senior left-back until Christmas, when Gael Clichy makes his return from injury. So any thoughts?
I would personally love to see Arsenal acquire the services of Frenchman Eric Abidal, currently playing at Olympique Lyonnais. He has something of an Ashley Cole in him - fiercely combative, plus a tendency to move forward and attack - and with the money earned from the England man's sale, Lyon's $25 million evaluation of Abidal should easily be met.
Sol Campbell's signing with Portsmouth gives me no worries at all. It is time for two of the Gunners' youngsters, namely Justin Hoyte and Johann Djourou, to fight for a starting place until Senderos makes his return from injury.

It was kind of sad to see Sweden goalkeeper Isaakson join Manchester City. Lehmann has no more than two or three seasons left in him; Almunia is quite prone to errors and definitely needs to step it up if he wishes to be the new No.1; Mart Poom is out of the question, being aged and somewhat of a second-rate keeper...so a new guardian of the nets is also a mandatory signing for the near future. Isaakson would have been the perfect replacement for Lehmann. He is only 24, has plenty of experience on the highest professional level, and was instrumental in keeping the score down to 2:0 in Sweden's World Cup loss to Germany. Now that City have snapped him up, however, Arsenal must look elsewhere...perhaps another Frenchie, Mickael Landreau?

Whatever the little problems and worries that are bothering Wenger, one thing is crystal-clear; Arsenal has a squad strong enough to give the defending champs a run for their money, both in the Barclay's Premierleague and the UEFA Champions League. They were more than impressive in pre-season, beating both AZ Alkmaar and Dinamo Zagreb 3:0 in away matches, and this run of good form is showing no signs of flagging. Expect Capt. Titi Henry to claim the Boot once again, and young Fabregas to lead the team far in both its domestic and European campaigns.

FRANCE

I recently wrote a post concerning the future of the French team...with much more thinking, however, I've drawn a few conclusions:

1. There will be an intense midfield battle between France's youngsters. Lassana Diarra currently claims the role of "new Makelele", but with the rise of Rio Antonio Mavuba, Jeremie Toulalan, and Hatem Ben Arfa, and possibly even more young talents, only three at most can secure a spot for the World Cup 2010, or even the Euro 2008. Largely due to the new crop's huge amount of versatility (Julien Faubert, for instance, can play right-wing or right-back; Flamini, anywhere in midfield or left-back; Jeremie Berthod is another William Gallas, comfortable in center-back or left-back), competition will be fierce, and it will again be interesting to see who Raymond Domenech favors.

2. France will have a hard time qualifying for the Euro 2008 Championships - a difficult comment to make, considering the vast amount of talent Les Bleus can draw from. Yet seeing that both Ukraine and Italy have largely kept their World Cup squads intact, the youngsters may stumble against the weight of experience. And let's not forget an always-dangerous Scottish squad fielding some real quality players, plus the dark-horse teams of Georgia and Lithuania; the up-coming game at Bosnia & Herzegovina should give an idea of France's current international status.

3. TREZEGUET: Stuck in that hell pit that is now Juventus, Trezegol should come out all guns firing for France. His club career has taken a huge step back, and what fun is it to be scoring against Serie B outfits while you could be helping the national team win Euro qualifiers? I would love to see a more motivated, more clinical Trezeguet partnering Henry in attack...he's got to prove himself quick before the arrivals of other young strikers in the likes of Sinama-Pongolle, Anthony Le Tallec, Jimmy Briand, and Samir Nasri. Trezeguet, despite his loss of form comparable to that of Ruud van Nistelrooij, is still a force to be reckoned with on the international stage.

Time for the prediction game!!!!! :-)

UEFA Euro 2008 Qualifying Group B:
France 1:1 Italy (H) France 3:0 Scotland (H) France 4:0 Faroe Islands (H)
France 0:0 Italy (A) France 1:1 Scotland (A) France 2:0 Faroe Islands (A)

France 2:1 Lithuania (H) France 3:2 Georgia (H) France 1:2 Ukraine (H)
France 2:1 Lithuania (A) France 2:0 Georgia (A) France 0:0 Ukraine (A)

Total Points: 25
(In this scenario, as long as our good neighbors Italy do us a favor by beating Ukraine, and as long as Lithuania, Georgia and Scotland combine to make life miserable for each other, France should take second place - or else, !!!!!)

Arsenal Fixtures, Barclay's Premierleague:
Arsenal 4:0 Aston Villa
Arsenal 3:1 Manchester City
Arsenal 3:0 Middlesbrough
Arsenal 2:2 Manchester United
Arsenal 2:0 Charlton Athletic

(I just can't see Arsenal falling to any of these teams, and Manchester United is not looking too good so a meeting at Old Trafford shouldn't be too perilous)

Any thoughts, suggestions, or comments on these subjects are most welcome!!!