So the first four games are now out of the way and in hindsight, seven points is probably what was expected, maybe nine would have been more satisfactory but seven is neither great nor a disaster, however, what about the next four games? What can we expect from them?
These are the next four Arsenal Premier League fixtures.
Watford v Arsenal
Arsenal v Aston Villa
Manchester United v Arsenal
Arsenal v Bournemouth
Well, this is my personal opinion only but I would suggest that we should really be getting six points from our two home games. If we cannot beat Aston Villa and Bournemouth at home then we can forget about top-four.
Watford away will be tricky but they are in disarray right now and I would like to think that we can collect three points there.
United will not be easy, they have their issues as well but the game is still at Old Trafford and I do not look forward to seeing David James running at David Luiz, I smell penalty all day long there. A point and I would be satisfied.
So, ten points I feel would be satisfactory, while 12 points is very doable.
Anything less than ten points and I would worry, I accept that no game is a walkover in the Premier League but we cannot regularly drop points and expect to finish in a Champions League position.
I do believe there are good reasons to be positive going forward, our opening four games were always going to be tricky, especially with so many new players to integrate and while it could and probably should have been a better start, it was not a terrible one and that in itself is progress.