Not too tough but sleeky - Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal looks ready to take the Premier League by storm and Palace on opening day the right test for credential

Another impressive win over Sevilla in the Emirates Cup on Saturday afternoon cements what has been a wonderful summer for the Gunners as they prepare the take on Crystal Palace in the Premier League curtain raiser on Friday night.

Six massive goals without reply, four in the last nine of the first twenty minutes, Arsenal blew away their Spanish opposition who are also in full strength to claim the Emirates Cup.

Playing in an Arsenal shirt for the first time at the Emirates, Gabriel Jesus bagged a hat-trick, Bukayo Saka hit a brace and substitute Eddie Nketiah completed what was a remarkable Arsenal win.

Gabriel Martinelli was heavily involved in four of the six goals while the center back pair of Gabriel Magalhães and William Saliba continue to shut out opposition.

Preseason is done and now the real battle is set to take off on Friday evening. Arsenal fans will have high expectations of the new season and rightly so following the management’s backing of the manager, which has seen them spent over £100 million on new signings this summer.

The Arsenal has shown massive improvement throughout preseason and the feeling around the club is very positive ahead of the start of the new season.

The understanding amongst the players, the way the press, very active when in possession, more clinical attackers, the fluid in their play, an assured defence, and all round willingness of almost everyone to get on the ball make it so easy for Mikel Arteta's side.

Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko and William Saliba have all slotted seamlessly into the team while Fabio Vieira is yet to show up since completing his move from Porto earlier in the summer.

The Portuguese, alongside Kieran Tierney, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Emile Smith Rowe are players on the sidelines, whom are also expected to play a big part in Arsenal's season.

The squad depth is also better than they had last season. Most of the summer signings are versatile players. Oleksandr Zinchenko will compete with Kieran Tierney at left-back while he could also serve as option in the middle of the park.

Gabriel Jesus can play anywhere across the front three and it can be seen in the build up to his first goal against Sevilla, where he started from the left side of the attack before making his way to the area to pounce on a lose ball.

The skills and positioning of Jesus will be massive asset for Arsenal and he has so far proven the manager was right to have waited until the summer to sign a striker, even though they really needed on in the last winter transfer window.

Fabio Vieira has admitted he is capable of playing as a No.8 and as a No.10 and it will be very interesting to see the former Porto man when he finally starts to play for the club.

With Arteta looking to play a 4-3-3, and Vieira very likely to replace or compete with Granit Xhaka for a place in the XI, it is expected that the 22-year-old become a regular starter for the club if he can hit the gound running.

Granit Xhaka also had a great preseason for the club and has played a very important role for Arsenal since joining from Moenchengladbach in 2016 but it is widely believe that they could get even better with an upgrade on the Swiss captain, now that Arteta has binned the double pivot midfield.

A good number of the Arsenal squad are very technical players with Arteta looking to play the possession dominant game. The technicality of these players will be very helpful when they play against the high pressing teams.

Fabio Vieira, Martin Ødegaard and Thomas Partey, the trio expected to make up the Arsenal midfield are all press resistance with their footwork and ability to retain possession with skills, dribbling, turnings and more importantly, the eyes for very good passes.

Crystal Palace on the opening night is a very good test of their set up. It will be interesting to see how they fare on Friday night before they face the more difficult tests in the league and Europe.

The Eagles played a part in Arsenal's failure to qualify for the Champions League last season, thrashing them 3-0 at the Selhurst in the season run-in.

Arsenal have beaten Palace in only one of their last eight meetings, with Palace winning twice while the five others have ended in draws. Arsenal's only win was an evenly contested match, which Arsenal luckily won with two goals in injury time.

Palace have proven a formidable team against Arsenal in recent times. Info fact, only Manchester City have won more penalties against a single opponent (Spurs, five) in the last five seasons, than Crystal Palace have against Arsenal (four).

Wilfred Zaha has won three of those penalties so huge test awaits the Arsenal defenders at the Selhurst on Friday. What better test can there be for the Arsenal’s defence than Palace, who have also scored 17 goals against Arsenal in the past five seasons, with only Liverpool and Manchester City the only teams to have scored more against the Gunners in that time ?

The result on Friday night will speak volume of Arsenal's readiness for the new season, given Palace has been a thorn for them in recent seasons.

Gabriel Jesus also has a very good record against The Eagles. The former Manchester City striker has scored in two of his last three visits to the Selhurst Park and on the back of a very good preseason, not many will bet against him scoring a debut goal.

Results in Arsenal's first games of the season hasn't been really kind with only four wins in the last 12, which has also produced five losses. The big test awaits Arteta and his minions on Friday night.

Edu and Arteta continuously maintain they are not done with their summer business as they look to get loan and permanent deals for some of their players, more incomings is expected, some of which will be much dependent on departures.

Whatever Arsenal do in the remaining days of the transfer window will get deserved credits but the time for the emotion is gone. Friday night in London, their preseason comquests will matter no longer but the results of the night will be headline.

Will it be a dream start for Arsenal ? We, as all others anticipate what Arsenal have in their locker when the real battle gets underway.

Author: Kehinde Hassan Afolabi