Arsenal have been on a rollercoaster since the start of the preseason but the main question is if this success will transpose to the actual season.

The Gunners start their campaign with a trip to Selhurst Park to face their Legend’s team Crystal Palace.

Arteta’s boys will be travelling with full confidence after having an 100% record in the pre-season friendlies especially with the convincing wins against Chelsea and Sevilla.

The North London club has already spent €120 million this season and were the biggest spenders in the league last summer.

New additions like Gabriel Jesus and Zinchenko have already made their mark with new midfield maestro Fabio Viera also pumped for the new season.

Mikel Arteta is known to be a great thinker and will be jeering the boys up to atleast make the top four this season after being out of the Champions League since 2015/16.

“We had a mixture of spending time here in London and being away, and we have played competitive matches against very different opponents and formations and ways of playing and behaviours from teams,” Arteta told Arsenal media while reflecting on the new season

“We have had different conditions as well, we were in Germany and we had to acclimatise with the weather there, and we went to the US and it was the same, now we play with different context and atmosphere as well, so in general I feel like the team is prepared.

“The ball is going to start rolling on Friday night and it will be a different story.”

Arsenal faced Ipswich Town, Nurnberg, Everton, Orlando City, Chelsea and Sevilla in pre-season and they won all six games.

It wasn’t just about the results but the manner at which they won those games. Arsenal have been praised for their hunge, fitness and determination by rival coach, Thomas Tuchel when his side lost 4-0 to the Gunners.

The beautiful, fast possession game has once again shown that Arsenal are not slowing down this season but going for the top four.

However, they face strong competition from Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, Man United, Liverpool and Manchester City for the top four slot.

With Liverpool and Man City seeming to be out of reach, Spurs, Chelsea and Man United look to be their main rival for a third or fourth position.

Spurs have equally reinforced signing Bissouma, Richarlison, Perisic, Spence, Dejan, keeping Harry Kane and also being managed by a proven league winning manager, Antonio Conte.

Manchester United have also pumped up their rebuilding process with the appointment of Erik ten Hag, signing of Christain Eriksen, Tyrell Malacia, and Arsenal’s transfer target – Martinez.

Their London rivals – Chelsea who they defeated 4-0 will also be a force in the season as they are still in the market to sign more players to add to their robust team.

New signing, Gabriel Jesus has proven that he’s the missing piece in the Arsenal’s attack, scoring 7 goals in preseason games averaging a surreal 37.8 minute per goal. Eddie Nketiah who has been handed the legendary jersey number 14 has also proven to the manager he’s up for the task by scoring 5 goals in the pre-season and Bukayo Saka being their third highest goal scorer with 4 pre-season goals.

The Brazilian has scored more goals for Arsenal than Alexandre Lacazette did (6) during 36 competitive appearances last season.

Gunners haven’t been short of free flowing attack, scoring 25 goals in their six pre-season games, averaging a remarkable 4.16 goals per game.

Ukrainian captain, Zinchenko has also shown he can offer as much attacking wise as he can offer defensively. He will be fielding in for injury prone Kieran Tierney whose Arsenal career has been greatly hampered by injury.

The signing of Ben White and Leno helped their defense last season but with the reintroduction of William Saliba to the defense line, it looks unbreakable.

In 282 minutes William Saliba has played, Arsenal has not conceded any goal. A backline of Zinchenko, White, Gabriel and Saliba have equally not conceded any goal.

The Gunners defensive input has been good all round especially with Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka shielding the defense. Arsenal only conceded five goals in the pre-season and kept three clean sheets.

Since losing 4-1 to Chelsea in the 2019 Europa League final, Arsenal will be vying to win their first ever European title.

It is expected that if Arsenal fail to qualify for the Champions League or make the top four, Mikel Arteta’s ability will be called to question.

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