Overview
Arsenal's pre-season period is gradually closing, but Mikel Arteta's team still has many problems to solve before entering the Premier League campaign.
Arsenal lost 2 and won 1 in 3 official friendly matches this summer. In the most recent match, they were defeated by Dortmund with a score of 3-2. Although the friendly result is not a decisive factor, Arteta certainly still has things to improve before the new season.
One of the most worrying issues lies in the attack. Viktor Gyokeres scored from the penalty spot against Dortmund but had difficulty coordinating with his teammates. This shows that Arsenal still needs more time to find the most effective way to operate with the Swedish striker.
The performance at the Emirates is also something that makes Arsenal fans worried. The London team once won 4 consecutive home matches before losing to Dortmund. However, before that, they only won 4 out of the last 7 matches at the Emirates, besides 2 defeats and 1 draw.
Goal scoring ability is also not really stable when the "Gunners" only scored a maximum of 1 goal in 4 out of 7 matches mentioned above. The positive point is that they still kept a clean sheet in 5 matches, showing that the defense still maintained its solidity. Therefore, the unstable performance against Dortmund may just be a distortion in the preparation process.
The match against Como also has special meaning when Cesc Fabregas returns to Emirates. The former Arsenal midfielder has been attached to the London team for 8 years, although the time playing for Chelsea afterwards may make this return more noteworthy.
Como entered the match with an impressive record. The Italian team finished Serie A last season in fourth place and won the right to participate in the Champions League. This is a particularly impressive achievement considering that they used to play in Serie D in the 2017-2018 season.
Como's pre-season preparation process is relatively positive with 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 penalty defeat. They scored 9 goals and conceded 6 goals in these 4 matches.
However, the defense is still a point Como needs to improve when they have gone through 5 consecutive matches without keeping a clean sheet.
Personnel situation
Arsenal fans certainly want to see new signing Bruno Guimaraes debut.
Meanwhile, Declan Rice has returned to training after a period of rest after the World Cup, along with Bukayo Saka and David Raya. All three are likely to be given a playing opportunity by Arteta.
On Como's side, center-back Trevoh Chalobah joined Chelsea in early August and is expected to make his debut for the new team.
In midfield, Maximo Perrone and Adrian Lahdo could start, while Assane Diao, Maxence Caqueret, Mattia Liberali and Anastasios Douvikas are expected to form the front four.
Expected lineup:
Arsenal: Raya, White, Mosquera, Gabriel, Calafiori, Guimaraes, Lewis-Skelly, Dowman, Odegaard, Tzolis, Havertz.
Como: Butez, Smolcic, Ramon, Chalobah, Kaiki, Perrone, Lahdo, Diao, Caqueret, Liberali, Douvikas.
The match between Arsenal and Como takes place at 1:30 a.m. on August 13 (Vietnam time).
