"Let's get ready for a season of high-scoring action," urged the Leeds pitch announcer, a prayer more than a wish given that George Graham's team managed just 28 goals in the Premiership last season, the lowest of any side in the four divisions.
But if you can't be optimistic at the start of a new season when can you be, even if Graham's enthusiasm was reserved for the club who sacked him.
"I really believe Arsenal will win the title," said the man who took the Gunners to the championship in 1989 and 1991. It is perhaps the first time Graham has pleased the Arsenal board since, for having backed Arsene Wenger's transfer judgment to the tune of £15 million, the Highbury directors will be relieved to receive early confirmation that the Frenchman is on the right track.
Graham's accolade for Arsenal seemed genuine enough and not laden with some ironic undertone. Wenger has built an impressive squad and with the main components of one of the country's tightest defences still to return - Tony Adams from suspension, Martin Keown and Lee Dixon from injury - it is easy to share the Leeds' managers' optimism for Arsenal's future over the next nine months.
Enthusiasm for Arsenal's title cause must also be curbed until we know how all the new foreigners fit in. On Saturday they were still feeling their way in the side, with Marc Overmars a peripheral presence and Petit showing some promising touches but like Overmars still short of match sharpness.
For all the depth of Wenger's squad, the absence of Adams, Bould and Keown also exposed a weakness in defensive cover, with Garde at right-back and Grimandi in central defence making Leeds' ordinary attack look menacing.
Indeed, it was Grimandi's error in heading a clearance into Rod Wallace's path which set up Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink for Leeds' equaliser on 43 minutes.
Hasselbaink, a £2 million striker signed from Portugal's Boavista prefers the Brazilian way of being known by just one name, though "Jimmy" hardly has the same ring as Socrates or Juninho.
However it was Arsenal created a number of chances, though it took a typical piece of Ian Wright opportunism for them to go ahead, the England striker scoring from a narrow angle on 35 minutes to move with four goals of overtaking Cliff Bastin's all-time Arsenal record of 178.
Leeds United: Martyn, Kelly, Robertson, Radebe, Wetherall, Wallace, Hasselbaink, Ribeiro (Kewell 82), Bowyer, Hopkin (Haaland 83), Halle. Subs Not Used: Lilley, Molenaar, Beeney. Booked: Bowyer. Goals: Hasselbaink 42.
Arsenal: Seaman, Winterburn, Vieira (Platt 63), Bould, Wright, Bergkamp, Overmars, Parlour, Petit, Grimandi, Garde. Subs Not Used: Anelka, Marshall, Hughes, Lukic. Booked: Vieira, Petit, Garde, Grimandi. Goals: Wright 35.
Referee: D J Gallagher (Banbury).
