In a fortnight's time, Arsenal and Crystal Palace will kick off the 2022/23 Premier League season under the lights at Selhurst Park on a Friday night.
For the Gunners, it's a chance to avenge the 3-0 reverse in the corresponding fixture back in April and also banish memories from 12 months ago when they were in action against another London club in the opening game of the 2021/22 campaign - a 2-0 loss at the hands of Brentford.
With that said, there has been an improvement with regards to Arsenal's preparations for the start of a new season this time around as Mikel Arteta is in a position where he could hand out debuts to summer signings such as Gabriel Jesus, Matt Turner and Marquinhos.
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In terms of results, things could not have gone any better for the north London outfit so far, as it is four wins from four and 15 goals scored from pre-season friendlies against Ipswich Town, FC Nurnberg, Everton and most recently, MLS outfit Orlando City in the early hours of Thursday morning (UK time).
Although, the one downside has been the absences of certain players. Due to fitness concerns, Fabio Vieira is yet to get a run-out since arriving from Porto, Emile Smith Rowe and Kieran Tierney haven't featured since the win over Nurnberg and Takehiro Tomiyasu hasn't played a single minute of the USA pre-season tour.
Of course, with games against Chelsea and Sevilla to come, there's still enough time for players to get some minutes under their belt before the real business gets underway. But in the cases of Tierney and Tomiyasu, Arteta ought to manage their game time carefully given what happened during the second half of last season.
As the latter was plagued with calf issues from January to the end of April and the former missed the top-four run-in, it meant the Gunners were without their first-choice full-back pairing during a crucial period of the campaign and disaster struck for Tomiyasu against Newcastle United when he limped off.
So unless the pair feature in either, or both, of Arsenal's remaining pre-season friendlies, they may not be in the right condition to be named in the defensive unit that takes to the pitch at Selhurst Park on August 5. However, the good news is that Arteta doesn't have to rush either player back.
With Scotland international Tierney only playing 30 minutes of pre-season so far following knee surgery his place at left-back can go to Zinchenko - who is expected to arrive from Manchester City very soon - especially as Nuno Tavares could be a Brighton and Hove Albion player amid talk of a potential loan agreement between the two clubs.
Cedric Soares is the natural candidate to come in at right-back if Tomiyasu isn't ready, but judging by the closing stages of the game against Orlando City, Benjamin White - who returned from a two-match absence - may get the nod in a role he was entrusted with a couple of times last season.
In this scenario, William Saliba would be in line to finally make a competitive appearance for Arsenal - three years after joining the club in a £27m transfer from Saint-Etienne - as he could partner Gabriel Magalhaes in central defence as part of a new-look back four under Arteta.
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