The season is almost upon us and we can now get back to the serious stuff of competitive football and with that comes the usual pre-match exercises of predicting what sort of Arsenal side Unai Emery will put out.
I must admit that it was rare that I guessed the team that Emery would field, especially near the end of the season, he really is one of the trickiest managers to second guess.
But no harm in trying.
I think it is a given that Bernd Leno will start in goal and to some extent the defence picks itself, mainly due to injuries and I expect he will go with a central defence of Luiz and Chambers with Monreal and Maitland-Niles in the full-back positions with instructions to bomb forward when they can.
Obviously, Tierney is out injured as is Bellerin and Holding and the only possible change could be Sokratis instead of Chambers.
The middle of the park is where Emery tends to spring his surprises but I would be shocked if he did not start Torreira and you just know he will start Xhaka alongside him.
The big question is who else he will start in the middle of the park and I am going to plump with Ceballos as opposed to Guendouzi.
In front of those three, I am going to go with Ozil just behind Lacazette and Aubameyang and so yes, you read it right, no Pepe.
I honestly think he will start our record signing on the bench mainly because of lack of pre-season action.
That said, it may change depending on whether Lacazette is declared fit to play.
So, my predicted line up against Newcastle is
Leno
Maitland-Niles
Luiz
Chambers
Monreal
Torreira
Xhaka
Ceballos
Ozil
Lacazette
Aubameyang
No doubt a lot of you will call me clueless for leaving out Pepe but that is what I think Emery will do in the first game of the season, hope I am wrong.