It was a huge reality check for Arsenal. There is no disgrace in being beaten by one of the best teams to grace the Premier League but it has highlighted where Unai Emery needs to improve his new side. His philosophy is for his teams to play out from the keeper but when Granit Xhaka received the ball from Petr Cech, there were too many Arsenal players standing and watching. Xhaka needed the playmakers — Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Mesut Ozil — to give him more options so they could get on the ball and feed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Unai Emery was given a huge reality check as his side opened up against Manchester City. Where Manchester City won this game was on the flanks. Arsenal’s full backs did not get enough protection and the team must strike a better balance between defence and attack.
After a summer of optimism, this result brings a tinge of disappointment but change will take time. There are still plenty of areas where Emery will feel he can get his hands dirty on the training pitch. If two players more than anyone else are to implement his ‘new way’ at Arsenal then manager Unai Emery thinks he has found them in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Stephan Lichtsteiner. Aubameyang to be the key to bringing success on the pitch, and Lichtsteiner to help spread the Spanish manager’s message in the dressing room. Emery took over from Arsene Wenger knowing two things would be integral to cementing Arsenal’s place back into the top four of the Premier League after consecutive finishes in the positions below.
Arsenal have had a relatively uneventful summer in terms of signings, but there is no denying that reinforcements have arrived all across the pitch. Their opponents for Sunday, Manchester City, splurged only on Riyad Mahrez — an able option to back-up the tactically intelligent, yet much-maligned Raheem Sterling but Pep Guardiola already has a system in place with almost the entirety of his squad well-versed in his preferred style of play.
