There is perhaps no Premier League team quite so susceptible to fluctuations of mood as Arsenal. Last season, it had five runs of four or more consecutive wins but also four runs of four or more games in which it won one game or fewer. In part that could be explained by the fixture list, and in part by injuries or other absences—but only in part. More than with any other side there was a sense with Arsenal last season that it was on a high or on a low and performances and results would follow accordingly. And that may be the hardest issue to for Mikel Arteta to sort out in his third full season as manager.
The evolution of the squad is continuing. Alexandre Lacazette has departed for Lyon. He was a fitful presence last season, managing only four league goals but creating space with his movement. The sense, though, was always that he wasn’t quite the right sort of forward for the sort of football Arteta wants to play.
His replacement, Gabriel Jesus, is a player Arteta knows well from his time working with Manchester City and is a smart and industrious presser. Jesus has seemingly now gone back on reservations he expressed in 2018 about playing as a center forward, but he is far more mobile than Lacazette and, even with the doubts about his finishing, should offer more than four goals this season. He has enjoyed a very promising preseason, scoring seven times in five appearances.
