Arsenal strolled to a 4-1 victory over Bayer Leverkusen at Emirates Stadium this evening in their penultimate friendly game before the 2024-25 season starts.
First-half goals from Oleksandr Zinchenko, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus put them in a comfortable lead heading into the break.
Kai Havertz made it 4-0 in the 65th minute before Leverkusen pulled one back 11 minutes later.
Arsenal head into Sunday’s Emirates Cup final against Lyon in high spirits. They will be desperate to hit the ground running when the new Premier League season starts.
Gunners manager Mikel Arteta wants to go one better after coming close to winning the league title in each of the last two seasons, and Leverkusen counterpart Xabi Alonso has showered praise on him.
“Competitive – he has been always a competitive animal,” the Bundesliga-winning manager said after the game. “Here you can see how he has developed a great project.
“You could see that he wanted to win and he was preparing for that, you know. It is a fruit of many decisions that he has taken that they reach here in Arsenal.”
Arteta gave his all over the last two seasons, but it was not enough to stop Manchester City.
The Spaniard has added Italy international defender Riccardo Calafiori to his squad this summer and talks are ongoing over a deal to sign Real Sociedad midfielder Mikel Merino.
An attacker is also on the Gunners’ radar, but nothing has materialised.
Arsenal will feel confident of their chances in 2024-25, and time will tell if they have done enough in the transfer market to finally overhaul Man City.
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