Premier League: The Gunners Are Ready To Go Again

Arsenal vs Wolverhampton Wanderers

Arsenal fans will hope this will be third time lucky when their team embarks on the 2024/25 Premier League campaign after winning back to back runners up medals. And the Gunners start the new season with a fascinating clash at home to Wolves on Saturday.  

Mikel Arteta has grown into his job as head coach at the Emirates and his squad is in good shape to push Manchester City hard again; and he will want them to put down a marker against a side which will be aiming for a mid table finish. At SBOTOP odds of 1.19 to win the Gunners are red hot favourites to beat Gary O’Neil’s Wolves, but every now and then we see an odd result on the opening day, as Arsenal fans will painfully recall when they lost to Brentford in their first match of the 2012/22 campaign.

Will we see lighting strike again at the Emirates on Saturday? I suspect not but Arsenal won’t leave anything to chance.  

 

Talking Points

Calafiori may have to wait for his Arsenal start  

The Gunners are Manchester City’s biggest rivals for the title with the latest Premier League 2024 betting odds pricing them at 2.75 and the Sky Blues at 2.10 and Arteta already has a settled core, with the bulk of last season’s team ready to feature again. The flagship signing of Italian left sided centre back Riccardo Calafiori has strengthened Arsenal’s defensive group, and he appeared for his new side in the pre-season 2-0 win over Olympique Lyonnais. But Arteta’s preferred back four line-up so far has seen Oleksandr Zinchenko at left back and Gabriel in the middle and they are likely to start against Wolves with William Saliba and Ben White making up the four. 

With David Raya, now signed permanently, in goal, the front six will have a familiar look. Captain Martin Odegaard will likely play in front of Thomas Partey  and Declan Rice, with Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli on the flanks and Kai Havertz leading the line. Arteta is still hoping to sign a striker but the German star improved as a number nine as the 2023/24 season progressed and his manager trusts him.      

Arsenal fans’ first target is for their team to finish ahead of North London rivals Spurs of course, but the title is in their sights and a fast start in terms of Premier League 2024 results is a must.

 

Wolves seek another year of consolidation

At the beginning of the 2023/24 season Wolves were predicted to be in a relegation scrap following a summer of turmoil but O’Neil steered them to a comfortable 14^th place finish and he has been rewarded with a new four year contract to see through a period of transformation at the club. Unlike Arsenal, Wolves have lost a couple of key players, winger Pedro Neto moving to Chelsea for a fee of £54m and centre back Max Kilman who has headed to West Ham United in a £40m switch. 21 year old forward Rodrigo Gomez could be the man to replace Neto after he signed from Braga in a £12m deal and he scored twice in a pre-season victory over West Ham, and midfielder Tommy Doyle has signed from Manchester City after an impressive season on loan at Molineux last year. 

Wolves have had a mixed pre-season, with wins over West Ham and Red Bull Leipzig, but defeats to Crystal Palace and Rayo Vallecano. And while the visitors will spend much of their match against Arsenal on the back foot, O’Neil will be pleased with the pre-season form of striker Hee-Chan Hwang and he will hope that Matheus Cunha can also play a part after shaking off a niggle.     

 

History

Arsenal have had the better of the head to head meetings with Wolves, winning 16 of the last 22 meetings, drawing three and losing three. The Gunners did the double over O’Neil’s men last term, winning 2-0 in West London and 2-1 at the Emirates as Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard scored Arsenal’s goals while Cunha scored for the visitors.   

In fact the Gunners have won the last six meetings with Wolves and I’m backing Arteta’s men to make it a magnificent seven.  

 

Betting Tip

Wolves are at 9.44 to spring a major surprise at the Emirates and take all three points, and the draw is at 5.70 with the Double Chance Wolves or Draw at 3.93.

For a correct score line a 2-0 home win is the most likely outcome at a price of 5.80 with a 3-0 Arsenal win at 6.66. 

   

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