Arsenal blew away German Champions Bayer Leverkusen as they won 4-1 in their penultimate pre-season friendly.
With only a week before the Premier League starts, this game provided a closer look at the two teams before the start of the season in what was a comfortable performance for Mikel Arteta’s Gunners.
Here’s five things we learnt for a dominant Arsenal performance…
Many of Arsenal’s Euro stars will be ready to start the new season
Many teams are still struggling to get players who went to the Euros back to full fitness but Arsenal have had no such problems. William Saliba, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Leandro Trossard, Jorginho and Kai Havertz all started the game whilst Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice were on the bench. Both Saka and Rice came on straight after half time, and should be ready to start vs Wolves on the opening day of the Premier League.
Arsenal fans still love Grant Xhaka
Granit Xhaka got a special mention when the two teams came out and the applause he received was incredible. The midfielder was a huge fan favourite in his last couple of years at the club and clearly that love has lasted. It is testament to the turnaround the Switzerland international had after his public outburst towards fans back in 2019.
Alex Zinchenko will fight for his place
After Arsenal signed Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber returned from long term injury, many people assumed Oleksandr Zinchenko would be relegated to mainly a substitute role. But he came out with a point to prove today and opened the scoring for Arsenal in the eighth minute with a lovely drilled finish into the corner of the goal.
Mikel Arteta sees Fabio Vieira as a concrete option for the right-wing
Bukayo Saka started 35 league games last season and has generally been overplayed for years, with Arsenal never really having a substitute option to cover for him. Arteta has persisted with Fabio Vieira at right-wing for all of pre-season and clearly sees him as a player who can take some of Saka’s workload. He did, however, struggle in the game and was substituted at half-time.
Leverkusen have plenty of work to do if they aim to retain the Bundesliga title
Granted it was just a friendly but Leverkusen did not look good at all. This was only their third pre-season game and easily their toughest. But having finished last season unbeaten in the league, this performance was worrying. They were lethargic and very sloppy in giving away the ball, time and time again. Xabi Alonso has serious work to do to get his side competing in the Bundesliga and the Champions League.
