Arsenal Preseason Preparations Intensify Ahead of New Season

Arsenal step up their preparations for the new season on Wednesday, and at last the picture is starting to look like the real thing.

For weeks, Mikel Arteta’s preseason has felt like a sketch without its main characters. So many of his core players have been on extended World Cup leave that judging performances has been almost pointless. The 3-2 defeat to Borussia Dortmund on Sunday underlined that sense of incompleteness: holes in midfield, uncertainty at the back, and a team still clearly short of its usual rhythm.

That changes now. Or at least it has to.

Arsenal’s gears begin to shift

Como arrive at the Emirates as more than just another preseason opponent. They are the product of an ambitious project, led by a man who knows this stadium better than most: Cesc Fabregas. The former Arsenal captain returns as the architect of one of Serie A’s most eye-catching recent stories, having guided Como to a fourth-place finish and a first-ever UEFA Champions League qualification in 2025-26.

For Arsenal, though, this game is about acceleration.

Bruno Guimaraes, the $101 million headline signing, is the symbol of that shift. His arrival is a statement of where the Premier League champions intend to go next, and he is expected to feature in some capacity against Como. His presence alone begins to reshape the feel of Arsenal’s midfield, even if he is only given a brief outing.

Around him, the cavalry is finally returning. Declan Rice, Noni Madueke, Eberechi Eze, Bukayo Saka, Mikel Merino, David Raya and Martin Zubimendi are all due back in training this week, swelling a squad that has looked thin in key areas. Martin Odegaard, the captain and creative fulcrum, has only just rejoined the group as well.

With the Community Shield against Manchester City looming on Sunday in Cardiff, this is no longer a gentle warm-up phase. Arteta will want intensity, cohesion and a hint of the side that intends to defend its Premier League crown.

Defensive frailties, deep resources

The results so far have been a reminder of what happens when you strip the spine out of a champion team. Defeats to Real Betis and Dortmund have exposed a back line that has lacked both familiarity and authority, and the injuries to William Saliba and Jurrien Timber — both set to miss the start of the season — have only heightened that concern.

Arteta, though, has little reason to panic. The depth at his disposal is considerable, and preseason, by its very nature, is a place for experimentation and rust. The emergence of Christos Tzolis on the left wing has offered a bright counterpoint to the defensive worries; the new signing has looked sharp, direct and dangerous, the sort of player who can stretch a game and tilt it in Arsenal’s favor.

Add Guimaraes into that mix and the shape of the champions begins to look far more ominous.

Fabregas’ Como bring substance, not sentiment

This will not be a sentimental exhibition for Fabregas. He returns to north London as a manager on the rise, not a former hero on a nostalgia tour.

His Como side are not just plucky overachievers. They were the most miserly defense in Serie A last season, conceding fewer goals than any of Italy’s traditional heavyweights, and they did it while playing an attractive, proactive brand of football. Fabregas has built a team that can shut the door and still entertain.

The squad has been strengthened again. Trevoh Chalobah has arrived from Chelsea to bolster that already disciplined back line. Up front, Alvaro Morata leads the attack, offering experience, movement and a constant threat in the box. Nico Paz is another key figure in the final third, giving Como a creative edge to match their defensive steel.

This is exactly the kind of opponent Arsenal need right now: organized, confident, and tactically sharp.

What this game really means

Kick-off at the Emirates comes at 2:30pm ET on Wednesday (August 12), broadcast on Arsenal’s YouTube channel. On paper, it is a preseason friendly. In reality, it is a crucial staging post.

Arteta must start stitching his stars back into a functioning unit. Fitness minutes matter, but so does structure. With City waiting in Cardiff for the first piece of silverware of the campaign, Arsenal can no longer hide behind the caveat of missing players and disrupted preparation.

Como, under Fabregas, will not arrive to make up the numbers. They will defend with the discipline that carried them into the Champions League, break with purpose through Morata and Paz, and treat this as a valuable test of their own readiness to face Europe’s elite.

For Arsenal, the question is simple: does the return of their World Cup core and the introduction of Guimaraes immediately lift them back towards the relentless, controlled machine that conquered England last season?

We are about to find out.