What have we learned from Arsenal's pre-season so far?

 

Mikel Arteta

Arsenal – what have we learned from pre-season?

By Jack Lacey-Hatton

It only feels five minutes since Euro 2020, but incredibly we are just one week away from the new Premier League season starting.

Arsenal will travel to newly promoted Brentford for a London derby in front of a noisy crowd next Friday night, not the easiest of starts to the new campaign.

But what sort of shape are Mikel Arteta’s side in, going into what could be a defining season for the manager?

We took a close look at what we have learnt from the pre-season period and what kind of shape the squad are in.

 

The new signings are ready to go

It has been a mixed transfer window so far. Some fans would have expected more both leaving and arriving at the Emirates stadium over the summer.
But positives can be taken - Ben White has arrived from Brighton for £50million, and highly-rated full back Nuno Tavares has come in from Benfica.
Albert Sambi Lokonga completes the 2021 summer singings so far. Crucially, all three have shown during pre-season they are ready to dive straight into the team if required.
White played the second half in last weekend’s 2-1 defeat against Chelsea, and instantly raised the standards across the backline, looking sharp from the get-go.
Tavares has also shown his match fitness is at the right level, appearing in the majority of pre-season games so far.
A particular high point was his performance against Scottish champions Rangers. Tavares was a constant attacking threat, making positive forward runs into the opposition box, and capping his display with an excellent goal.
Alexandre Lacazette

Work is required on defending set-pieces

An issue already raised in the aftermath of Arsenal’s Scottish tour earlier this summer, but it remains worth mentioning.
Arteta’s team conceded three goals from opposition corners in just two games, against Hibs and Rangers.
It shows how the defence needs time to gel, and hopefully the issue will also become less of a problem when Bernd Leno is back between the sticks once the season starts.
However, you can still expect clubs to target Arsenal on set-pieces in the opening weeks of the season.
On the positive side, Arteta has at least seen this issue first hand in friendly fixtures. The only time to concede such soft goals, is in non-competitive football.
It will give the manager a chance to rectify the problem once the real stuff gets underway.
Even away from set-pieces a lot of the goals in general Arsenal have conceded in pre-season could be labelled as ‘soft’, the Chelsea winner from last weekend the perfect example.
Hopefully this issue doesn’t re-appear in the opening game against Brentford a week today.

 

Expect a big season from Emile Smith Rowe

The 21-year-old will head into the season off the back of a wonderful summer.

Off the pitch, he has signed a brand new five-year contract, a wonderful pre-season boost for Arteta and the club as whole.

The attacking midfielder, who burst onto the first-team scene last season, has also been handed the number 10 squad number.

Taking over the former shirt of Mesut Ozil shows just how highly rated Smith Rowe is, and he has continued to shine in pre-season.

He produced an excellent individual display in the opening pre-season game against Hibs, moving the ball forward at speed, and scoring a well-taken goal.

Smith Rowe then also excelled in the next game against the Scottish champions, creating a number of chances for his teammates.

Arsenal’s performance noticeably dipped when he was taken off for Willian just after the hour mark.

 

Verdict

It has not been a perfect pre-season for Mikel Arteta. He probably would have wanted to clear more of the ‘deadwood’ from the first-team squad.

But a Covid-era transfer market has made that difficult. On the plus side the new signings should be able to have an instant impact on the team, rather than spending the first two months of the season getting up to speed.

The pre-season results have been mixed (two wins, two defeats, one draw) with one game still to play, against Spurs on Sunday.

Hopefully though the performances have allowed the manager to find out his best team. As long as the XI that starts at Brentford is ready to go, everything else should fall into place over the first few weeks of the season.

Photo credit: Getty Images

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