Arsenal made light work of Premier League new arrivals Coventry City as the Gunners began their title defense with a statement 3-0 win at the Emirates Stadium on Friday.
Mikel Arteta’s side backed up their billing as preseason title favorites with a victory that was never in doubt after Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka scored inside 23 minutes.
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Captain Martin Ødegaard added a third goal four minutes into the second half.
“The perfect start,” Ødegaard said.
The result gave Arteta his 150th win in 249 games in charge in the Premier League, with only Pep Guardiola, José Mourinho, Jürgen Klopp and Sir Alex Ferguson having achieved the feat in fewer games.
After winning their first league title in 22 years last season, Arsenal have their sights on becoming back-to-back English champions for the first time since they won three in a row between 1932 and 1935.
It was an inauspicious start to Coventry’s first game back in the Premier League in 25 years.
Former Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard led Coventry back to the top flight after winning England’s second-tier championship last season. But despite spending in excess of £120 million ($163 million) on seven new signings this summer, Coventry struggled to seriously threaten the champions and didn’t have an effort on goal until the 86th minute.
“It is a big learning curve for the players but the lads kept going right to the end,” Lampard said. “The important thing for me is to remain positive because Arsenal away will not define our season, it really won’t. Now we have to look to see how we can improve.”
Arsenal presented their latest signing, England defender Ezri Konsa, before kickoff, but Arteta named the impressive Christos Tzolis as the one newcomer in his starting lineup. Their biggest signing of the summer, midfielder Bruno Guimarães, missed out after suffering a knock in last week’s Community Shield win over Manchester City.
With Guimarães out, Myles Lewis-Skelly, the subject of much speculation over a move away this summer, was named alongside Declan Rice in midfield.
But it was Tzolis who caught the eye as the left winger showed he could give this attack an added dimension by helping to set up both opening goals.
“I love that a player that has been with us just for a few weeks gets this kind of energy every time he’s on the ball,” Arteta said of Tzolis. “I think he’s earned it. I think the way he has performed in the last few games has been phenomenal.
“What he transmits as a player is so direct, so incisive, constantly. He wants to make things happen and he has an incredible variety of actions in the last 30 meters. I think it’s up to him to make the right decisions. Even the spaces are sometimes really, really small. I’m very happy with him.”
First the Greece international stole possession to feed defender Riccardo Calafiori, who squared the ball for Havertz to slot home in the 15th minute.
Havertz scored only twice in the league last season after he was sidelined for almost five months with a knee injury sustained on the opening weekend. But after he started, and scored, in Arsenal’s crushing 3-0 win over Man City five days ago, the Germany international was retained in the lineup — in favor of former Coventry striker Viktor Gyökeres — and back on the scoresheet.
Havertz has now scored seven goals in his past eight matches with club and country dating back to last season’s Champions League final.
Tzolis then sent a cross in from the left that goalkeeper Carl Rushworth managed to push into the path of Saka, who scored into an empty net in the 23rd.
“Amazing, he played a brilliant game,” Ødegaard added of the new signing. “He has been brilliant all preseason. He’s so lively, it’s hard to defend him. He’s a really intelligent player, he always looks up and finds the right pass.”
There were question marks over the fitness of Rice and Saka during England‘s run to the semifinals of the World Cup. And both were, perhaps tellingly, withdrawn after the hour mark here.
Ødegaard added the third shortly after the break after his scuffed shot looped in out of reach of Rushworth. The Norway international gave an apologetic shrug as a celebration.
“It was not the best finish, but I was there,” Ødegaard said.
At the other end, the only time Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya was troubled was when a speculative overhead kick from Loum Tchaouna from outside the box sailed just high of the bar in the 42nd. The visitors’ only effort on target came late on, when Jack Rudoni managed only a weak header straight at Raya.
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