Arsenal vs Sunderland: Preview, Team News Likely Line-ups & Predicted Score

Arsenal get back to Premier League action as the new 2012/13 season gets underway when Sunderland visit the Emirates on Saturday afternoon.

After a seven year barren spell, Gooners will be hoping this is the season we finally pick up a trophy. Some pundits will lead you to believe that the loss of 30-goal striker Robin van Persie will leave us vulnerable to missing out on a top-four finish, but they fail to take into consideration the impact our summer signings will have.

The additions of Lukas Podolski, Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla will leave us stronger overall in my opinion. Would you rather rely on the goals of one man, who lets face it, is more than likely to pick up an injury sometime soon? Or share the load with three more than capable attackers?

I have a good feeling about this season and it all starts today against Martin O’Neill’s Sunderland. As ever, O’Neill’s side is going to be well organised and hard to beat. After a disastrous start under Steve Bruce, O’Neill guided them to a very respectable 13th position and with Larsson they are always dangerous on set pieces. As we found out last season.

Team News

Arsene Wenger confirmed that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Laurent Koscielny miss out through injury, while late tests will be given to Santi Cazorla, Alex Song and Theo Walcott. Song is subject to speculation over his future so don’t be surprised if he doesn’t play.

Mikel Arteta and Per Mertesacker are both available after missing the end of last season through injury, while Thomas Vermaelen will captain the side after taking over from RVP.

Tomas Rosicky, Bacary Sagna, Jack Wilshere, and Emmanuel Frimpong all remain on the sidelines. New signing Lukas Podolski is set to start up front, with Olivier Giroud having to settle for a place on the bench.

New signings Louis Saha and Carlos Cuellar are in line to make there debuts for the Black Cats. Stephane Sessegnon returns after an ankle injury and should start. However, Phil Bardsley, Wes Brown and David Vaughan will all miss out.

Likely Line-ups

Predicted Score

If Wenger goes with the above formation i can see us putting in a good performance against Sunderland. No doubt the new side is going to take some time to gel, but we’ve bought three experienced players and i think they will hit the ground running. Arsenal 2-0 Sunderland.

What do you think the team and score will be? Get involved in the comments section.

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