Like most Arsenal fans, I am excited for the coming season, and more so than for recent seasons. We have a new manager Unai Emery who is going to install a new system and hopefully get more out of our players than did Arsene Wenger. On paper, I don’t think any team that finished us above last year, with the obvious exception of Manchester City, is better or at least much better than us. We have three world class players in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mesut Ozil and, assuming he is still with us, Aaron Ramsey. Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Alexandre Lacazette and (ok, here’s the controversial name) Hector Bellerin are very good if not excellent players. Last year, young Ainsley Maitland-Niles was one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dour season, showing dynamism and instinct. And we all must be hopeful that our new players, especially Lucas Torreira, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Bernd Leno, will improve our porous defense. Our goal for the season is the top four; that doesn’t mean that if we don’t attain it, that the season was a failure, but we must challenge for it.

I am no expert tactician, so I will not talk formation, though I am certainly interested to see what we play. But I do want to talk about which players I think will feature regularly. While predictability can certainly be a nice thing, I don’t think we are going to see the same starting 11 week in and week out; I think there is going to be a rotation. Our squad is deep, competition for playing time will be fierce, and circumstances and form will be key factors in whom Emery selects.

I don’t think I am stepping into controversy when I say that we CANNOT play the same players as last year. We need to have more defensive solidity, and even assuming Emery can improve our players, that will not be enough to challenge for the top four.

Presumably, Petr Cech and Bernd Leno will be our primary goalkeepers. I think it is fair to say Cech was decent for us last season but certainly not great. Our import from Bayer Leverkusen, Leno, will be given an opportunity to supplant him as the # 1 keeper, if not for the # 1 jersey. I don’t think our goalkeeping was a primary reason for our poor showing last season, but a slight uptick would probably give us another few points, which could prove vital to our top four challenge.

So much has been written about the performance of our back four last season (fairly in my opinion about Shkodran Mustafi and not so fairly about the fashionista, Bellerin), that the term ad nauseam makes me nauseous. Looking back, I wish Wenger had experimented more and given more playing time to our young central defenders, Rob Holding, Calum Chambers and the Greek boy (as he will forever be known, thank you Arsene) Konstantino Mavropanos. Whether Mustafi is sold or not, and with the reliable (until last season) Laurent Koscielny out with the Achilles rupture, I would prefer to see Sokratis Papastathopoulos paired with one of the young centrebacks.

On the other hand, maybe Emery can turn Mustafi into a credible and consistent defender. Mustafi has speed and has sporadically shown good instincts. He certainly is not the only Arsenal player to have been “turned off” at the most inopportune moments last season. The “plateaued” (excuse me, I feel some nausea coming on again) Bellerin will be our right back, but won’t have to play every game as the “angry, unpleasant and mad” (thank you, FIFA referee Jonas Eriksson) Stephan Lichsteiner will cover him. Whatever you want to say about Hector on the field, you cannot belittle his talent. Whereas I don’t know regarding Mustafi, I am certain Emery will improve Bellerin. The “consistent” Nacho Monreal (who, may I point out, made mistakes like everyone else on the team, just less of them) will be our left back, unless he answers the siren call of Real Sociedad, with Sead Kolasinac as his backup. To me, Kolasinac is improvable, not as certain as Bellerin but not as uncertain as Mustafai, and he certainly looks the part of a marauding fullback.

I don’t think I will upset anyone in saying that we NEED to have a defensive midfielder, and his name cannot be Granit Xhaka. That doesn’t mean Xhaka cannot feature for us, but it must be with a partner whose focus is defense. Presumably, that role will be assumed by the incoming tenacious but diminutive Uruguayan, Torreira. He is not the destroyer we all thought we wanted, but as the similarly proportioned and productive N’Golo Kante has shown for c***s and country, he needn’t be.

Now is where things get interesting. We have five spots left and we have five offensive juggernauts in Miki, Ozil, Ramsey, Aubameyang and Lacazette (or MORAL if you prefer!). Unless Torreira can be both the middle-of-the-field offensive pivot AND defensive stopper, and that is too much to ask, we cannot start all five of these guys. They are all excellent in the final third. Taking just one player, Ramsey is at his best when he is making runs from deep into the box, but not at moving the ball up the field. And we need someone who can do that. Re-enter Xhaka, who I think will retain his place even though the verdict is still out on him. This will be a crucial season for him and his future with the club. I know he just signed an extension. I think the club will sell him if he doesn’t prove himself.

Maitland-Niles was so impressive last season that it would be a shame if he does not play a good chunk of games in his best position as a central midfielder. Where exactly he plays I do not know. Can he fill in for Torreira as DM? He has pace and showed some proclivity for defending. He also demonstrated the ability to run with the ball, something we are lacking with the departures from last season (Alexis Sanchez, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain) and this summer (Jack Wilshire). Perhaps he can fill in for Xhaka and even further upfield. I’d like to see 10-15 starts in the Premier League for young AMN.

I think we will see four of MORAL in most games, and if Ramsey leaves or Maitland-Niles really shows perhaps even just three. What formation they play and whether we get some width, I don’t know. I will say that I was impressed with Aubameyang’s shot from outside the box (he isn’t just a poacher!) and his ability to interchange with Lacazette against Boreham Wood. Of course, they are a National League side and no match for us, so grain of salt and all that.

I haven’t even mentioned guys like Alex Iwobi (like Xhaka, this has to be a make or break season for him), Mohamed Elneny (showed some ambition to go along with his usual activity), “super” Eddie Nketiah (c’mon, he rescued the Norwich game with two late goals yet didn’t warrant a single start after that????!!!), Carl Jenkinson (just kidding, checking to see if you are still awake), the moody Emile Smith Rowe (look at his picture on the official site and tell me that isn’t the definition of teenage angst) and if they are still in residence Lucas Perez (never really got his chance) and Danny Welbeck (he tries REALLY hard).

I’m excited for the season. I want to see how we play and which players Emery selects. I want us to have a defensive shape and actual plan. I want to see us come together and challenge for the top 4. And maybe I am being over-optimistic, but I am hoping for 50 combined goals between our stud tandem of Lacazette (20 goals?) and Aubameyang (30?), maybe more!