ON a historic Saturday morning for Arsenal, the sun is shining, and I'm still convinced that Arsene Wenger's Champions League finalists will thrash Aston Villa, the first visitors to the Emirates Stadium in a competitive game.
Last night I was on Newstalk 104, Dublin, and Ken Early asked why I seemed to think Arsenal might win 5-0 and I said,"Well, Arsene Wenger has had ten years to prepare for this game and Martin O'Neill has had two weeks."
I also said that while I like Martin O'Neill, and respect his achievements, I wasn't sure that he's a great manager.I rather think he's a canny character who has joined a club which finished 16th last season, so he should pull them up to tenth, which will be progress.
ARE ASTON VILLA a sleeping giant?
No. They're just another Midlands football club.
They will not want to be also-rans in a massacre but that scenario looks possible. Villa will graft, just as Leicester and Celtic did, but they could be outclassed.
And the Wow! factor of the stadium could work in Arsenal's favour. The magnificent new arena and sparkling facilities might inspire Villa, or give them an inferiority complex. It's impossible to say how that will pan out.
I'M DISAPPOINTED that Rosicky has a groin strain and won't play. And I'm very disappointed that Senderos is injured, as I'm a big fan of the Swiss shouter.
You have to talk in his position to be a great player and he will be a great player.I'm going out on a limb here, I know. But I don't sit on the fence when I talk about football, or other stuff.
Freddie Ljungberg starts on the left and Freddie is my biggest worry on that big pitch. Freddie couldn't get away from defenders on a small pitch at Highbury and last season was the season he stoppped scoring goals.
In a 4-5-1 he can still scrap and do a job, but if he's not 100% match sharp, he might struggle today.
ON HARGREAVES, Ken Early tells me that since centreback Israel has been injured, Bayern Munich have had to move Demichelis, a defensive midfield plyer who is great in the air, into the back four. That leaves coach Magath with only one central midfielder, Hargreaves.
So they cannot sell him to Man United. And that is the message coming from Bayern today : hands off our player ! That is great news !
ROB HUGHES has done a good piece for the Sunday Times about a wonder-horse, Tamarillo, owned by The Hon. Mrs Mary Guinness, a former Hollywod actress who married J.P.Donleavy, the Irish-American novelist.
Rob asked if I'd read Donleavy and I said I'd read The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B five times. And that The Ginger Man is one of the three wildest books I've ever read, along with Blue Movie by Terry Southern, and Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson.
Last night I located The Ginger Man on my overflowing, chaotic bookshelves and re-read the first 20 pages.
First published in France in 1955, the novel was banned in UK for 16 years.The hero Sebastian Dangerfield is a very provocative and amusing character.
Rob said Donleavy was originally a painter who took his paintings to Dublin galleries but they didn't want to know and told him, "Come back when you're famous."
So he wrote The Ginger Man to become famous !