TA: Arsenal's preseason preparations focus on refining their midfield and speed.

According to The Athletic, Arsenal will officially begin their preseason preparations on Saturday with an away game against Girona, 68 days after winning the 2025-26 season title.

Arteta's team has already played a closed-door friendly at their training ground, defeating lower-league side Milton Keynes 3-0. Tomorrow's match will be the players' first public appearance before the new season.

The Athletic outlined several key areas Arsenal can focus on in the coming weeks and months to solidify their control of the Premier League trophy.

Midfield movement/positional adjustments

Ahead of the new season, the midfield is likely to be Arsenal's most watched area. Arteta's available options are largely known, but his use of these players may differ from that of the 2025-26 season.

First, Arsenal need to protect the players who will play a crucial role in the title race, especially Rice and Martin Zubimendy. Last season, these two were Arsenal's first and second most-played players, respectively. Regarding midfield playing time distribution, Arteta could easily distribute that time more evenly among the players.

For example, Lewis Skelley played most of his 461 minutes in midfield in May. His performances suggest he should be given a more significant role in those areas next season. Given the inconsistent return dates of Arsenal's World Cup international midfielders, it will be interesting to see how Arteta uses Nwaneri in the coming weeks.

In the 2026-27 season, a key factor will be the availability of these players. Due to injuries, Ødegaard, Merino, and Havertz ranked only 16th, 18th, and 21st in playing time for Arsenal last season.

In the October home game against West Ham United, Odegaard was forced off with a knee injury after just half an hour, ending Arteta's previous experiment of pairing him with Eze in a more creative midfield in front of Rice. In that game, Odegaard was given more freedom to roam, dropping back when the team was advancing, but still maintaining a strong presence in the attacking third.

From a tactical perspective, using the Norwegian international more often in games that Arsenal expects to control this season could give Eze or Nwaneri more central positions.

As for Merino, his ability to play further forward has already been clearly demonstrated. Will the World Cup champion Merino be seen more as a striker this time, rather than a midfielder?

Add speed to the attack

In a way, this topic brings us back to what people were discussing last summer. You might recall that Arsenal's style of play during that preseason preparation period was surprisingly much more direct.

Rice and new signing Zubimendy quickly began frequently delivering through balls behind the defense, a passing style not commonly seen before. This was particularly evident after Arsenal's 3-0 victory over Athletic Bilbao in a pre-season friendly, with Arteta stating at the time: "The ability to threaten the final line from all areas of the pitch is a weapon we need to continue developing."

"Today, we felt in many situations, 'Yes, we can attack behind them at any time, and it will be very dangerous,' which creates a lot of space for other players in the paint."

This was refreshing, but it didn't last long.

A few months later, Arsenal reverted to their old ways, their efficiency in exploiting opponents' speed decreased. Like their midfield play, injuries may have affected their performance in this area, but Arteta's team actually had roughly the same number of fast counter-attacks per 90 minutes as Manchester City last season (6.70 vs. 6.93), only managing to score 4 goals from those chances, while Manchester City scored 9.

Specifically, these four counter-attacking goals were: Rice made it 2-0 away to Burnley in November; Saka scored the same goal a month later at home against Brentford; Victor Yocres helped Arsenal take a 3-0 lead against newly promoted Sunderland in February; and Dawman scored in stoppage time at the Emirates Stadium in March to make it 2-0 against Everton.

Manchester City have scored more than twice as many goals from these kinds of chances as Arsenal, partly due to Haaland’s top-class finishing ability, but Arsenal have also often wasted counter-attacking opportunities due to their slow pace.

Cristos Zolis, who joined from Club Brugge this summer, may alleviate this problem to some extent. Some people who have worked with the Greek international and requested anonymity to maintain good relations have praised his aggressive running. However, truly improving speed cannot rely on one person alone.

Arsenal are still looking for another left winger, and if Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior eventually arrives, the team's thinking speed and running speed in that area will immediately improve.

Although the direct style of play seen in last summer's preseason friendlies didn't continue, the partnership between Rice and Zubimendi remained, demonstrating the importance of these friendlies. At the time, Arteta said, "Today we're seeing another evolution."

Let's see if Arsenal can go further in their preseason preparations this season.

Arrangement of the center/forward trio

Arteta hopes to start this season with the same star-studded lineup he used in only one league match during the first half of the 2025-26 season: Jocres and Havertz both healthy and available.

Kai Havertz suffered a knee injury in the opening match against Manchester United and didn't return until January, which almost entirely placed the center-forward responsibility on new signing Jocres. Now that both players are available for this official pre-season match against Girona, how Arteta will use them in the coming weeks will be a key focus.

Will he choose one of them as the starting center, or will he adopt a "personalized" approach, deciding who starts based on different opponents?

Another key aspect of this problem is the specific choice of a partner for the center.

Arteta has consistently emphasized the importance of on-field relationships for player performance. Last season, the attacking trio of Jocres, Gabriel Martinelli, and Madou Keeke never fully gelled. The wingers available for pre-season this summer might create better chemistry with the Swedish striker, while Havertz is generally better at connecting with most of the players around him.

An interesting aspect of their respective seasons in 2025-26 is that Havertz and Jocres often seem to inspire each other to reach their peak. Therefore, Arteta might pair them up again. Even if he doesn't, their individual performances could reveal what the manager wants to see in them and whether those expectations will vary depending on their individual characteristics.

Currently, it seems most likely that Havertz will start as the center forward in the Community Shield against Manchester City on August 16, while Yorkes will start in the Premier League opener at home against newly promoted Coventry City five days later.

However, this arrangement is likely to change midway through the season, which could help Arsenal add more variety to their attack than last season.

Arsenal scored 71 goals in 38 league games to win the title. But the 2023-24 season was their most prolific season in the 34-year history of the Premier League, when they scored 91 goals. Catching up to that number won't be easy, let alone surpassing it, but the team certainly has room to improve its attack and has the opportunity to widen the gap between itself and the rest of the league.

Last season, Arsenal repeatedly failed to hold onto a one-goal lead, giving their opponents opportunities to equalize or even turn the tide. Increasing squad rotation and attacking variety early in the new season might make their title challenge and European competitions easier.