It was only match one in pre-season, but there was plenty for Mikel Arteta to talk about after a 1-1 draw and subsequent penalty shootout win over Bournemouth in California.
And it’s not just on the pitch where things are happening either, with Emile Smith Rowe failing to get any minutes and Riccardo Calafiori edging closer to a move to Arsenal.
Very pleased. We have a very different context today with so many young players – most of them making their debuts for us. Really pleased to see them, just looking at their faces and the energy and understanding that they were going to be involved was great. And I think the senior players had a good game. It was a really competitive match against Bournemouth as we expected. They are a little bit ahead of us in terms of the time that they had to prepare. Good competitive match, with a lot of things to take forward.
