How will Arteta’s new midfield look this season?

The result ended in a 2-0 defeat against United after two mistakes from the Arsenal backline and keeper, but it’s best to get those out of the way in pre-season.

In terms of the performance, there were clear teething issues in and out of possession, with Odegaard occupying a deeper role and the link-up play between the midfield trio slightly off. 

It remains to be seen if this will be Arteta’s preferred midfield three, and they’ve played less than an hour together so far so they’ll need time. 

It is unlikely that Arsenal will move for another central midfield player until the end of the transfer window, if they move at all, while they work on sales, so it’s a partnership that Arteta will need to build on throughout the remaining friendly games.

One factor is that Rice and Havertz haven’t played in systems that require the level of pressing and the level of tactical structure that Arteta insists upon, which will require time for everyone to get adjusted to.

Another potential area for Arteta to figure out is how the team deals with long balls over the top. 

We saw a few times last season that teams had some joy hitting long balls over the Arsenal defence, who often camp out on the halfway line, and almost all of United’s promising attacks came from that route.

There’s always the age-old caveat of a pre-season friendly, but given it’s an issue that the Gunners faced at times last year, now is the perfect time to work on it.

Jurrien Timber started at right-back, performing the inverted full-back role that Oleksandr Zinchenko played from the left last season. And he looked comfortable on the ball as his positioning helped to cause overloads, a promising sign and added flexibility for Arsenal.

Arsenal’s remaining pre-season games include Barcelona in Los Angeles on Thursday, followed by Monaco in the Emirates Cup on August 2 ahead of the Community Shield showdown against Manchester City on August 6.

Three more chances to iron things out before the Premier League opener against Nottingham Forest on August 12.