Arsenal are up and running with their preseason tour. The team defeated AC Milan 1-0 over ninety minutes, and a penalty shootout defeat was not enough to stop them from earning the Tridentity Cup.
The Gunners will be dreaming of major honours next May, but the work to win those titles starts now. What matters most to Mikel Arteta will be watching his group get up to speed and become familiar with the demands he is setting for them. In this game, there are already some promising signs to see.
Here are four things we learned from this curtain riser:
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Hale End has done it again
The fountain of youth is yielding gems for the Gunners, and some more were on show in Singapore.
In the same month that Ethan Nwaneri became the youngest player in Premier League history at the age of 15, Max Dowman made his debut for the U18 side. Many have hailed him as the most exciting attacking talent from the academy, and he gave fans a flavour of what he has to offer as a substitute.
He ended his day with a successful strike from the penalty spot, and fellow academy graduate, right back Josh Nichols, also hit the back of the net. Marli Salmon skied his shot as the Gunners lost this shootout 6-5, but he carried his composed play on the ball from the youth ranks into this fixture.
Myles Lewis-Skelly stepped onto the field in the second half with a series of line breaking passes that have become typical viewing for fans of the first team. Even Reiss Nelson, who has wandered to the margins of the squad, showed some of the sparkle that had once made him the star boy of Hale End.
Arteta admitted the young boys "took their chance.” Who knows what the year could hold?
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Defensive duo dial up their recovery
But the manager must be much more at ease seeing some of his pillars fit and firing for the campaign.
William Saliba sat out the final match of the 2024/25 season after he came off at half time in a 1-0 win over Newcastle United with a hamstring issue. He was absent from the Nations League squad for France, and while Gabriel Magalhaes is on the mend, his importance at the back is even greater.
The defender delivered in this duel. The electric Rafael Leao started as a central forward, but he ended up second best to Saliba in a footrace in the first half. The Frenchman repeated the feat at the start of the second half, following up a recovery run with a neat ball rob from Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
On his outside, Ben White was the right back. Jurrien Timber took the applause of fans for his lockdown performances in the Champions League, but he is out of action after ankle surgery.
The Dutchman offers many things, but he is not quite the same threat on the overlap as White. The 27-year-old looked shaky in spells after he came back from his knee operation, but he was integral to most of the threat from the first half as a supporting arm to Bukayo Saka in the final third.
The defence has been the outstanding unit of this outfit in the last two years. The arrival of Cristhian Mosquera adds depth at the back, but sound showings from this right sided pair set the standard.
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A steady start for the summer signings
Preseason provides a first glimpse of arrivals from the transfer window, and Arsenal are no different.
The only incoming player to have received a spot in the starting eleven was Christian Norgaard. He is not set to be a starter in the middle of the park, but as he looks to ease himself into life in North London, he tried to keep his activity smart and simple, and that should do the job for the squad.
At the start of the second half, Martin Zubimendi, the first big money signing of the summer, entered the stage. The Basque is not the most spectacular player, but he showed how he seeks to follow in the lineage of successful Spanish sixes from the last decade. A more nimble figure than Jorginho, he still has that desire to conduct, sprinkling some cute passes on the move into the box.
Kepa Arrizabalaga also came on for his compatriot David Raya. He has a reputation for being a good shot stopper against penalties, earning the UEFA Super Cup crown for Chelsea in 2021. Indeed, he lived up to the billing, saving three efforts in the shootout despite the defeat, and the Spaniard took his first steps to gaining the confidence of the group as a deputy between the sticks.
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There should be much more to come
The ninety minutes still followed a somewhat predictable pattern from Arsenal. Arteta's men had 57% of the ball, created 23 shots (9 of which were on target) to three for the Rossoneri. The match winner was Bukayo Saka, and right-sided reliance was the main source of a spark before half time.
At this time in the calendar, it was maybe a bit too ambitious to expect explosives from the Gunners.
The team have been in warm weather training in Spain at the start of the month and then played a private friendly against Watford last week before they jetted off to Singapore. However, this match was the first for all to see on their preseason schedule, so there should be more gears to go through.
Indeed, the options in the attack are almost unchanged from the end of a season that saw 22 fewer goals than the year before (69 in 2024/25 to 91 in 2023/24). Coaching can change some stagnant dynamics in the offence, but fresh faces and different qualities are always going to make a difference.
Noni Madueke only left the Chelsea camp on the eve of the Club World Cup final, while Viktor Gyokeres is not yet a part of the first team squad, with a switch from Sporting still in the works. It would have been nice to see some senior figures freshen up the attack, but that will come with time.
