With the caveat that this is a pre-season warm-up and therefore not the most accurate gauge of what is to come (remember the ballad of Yaya Sanogo, who scored four in a mini-explosion at the Emirates Cup before disappearing into the background for the season proper), Arsène Wenger watched his Arsenal squad flex their goalscoring muscles with a look of serene contentment.
For all the chitchat about £200m sloshing around to strengthen his squad, Wenger is encouraged enough by what he has to feel relaxed about any further business in this transfer window. He is, he mused, “not in desperate need” for anything, even though he retains an interest in any gems that might present themselves as buyable.
“We have a good squad. We score goals. We can create chances. But we are open-minded. Everybody is on the market – many clubs have big, big money,” he said.
His squad have an encouraging rhythm, which they beat loud and clear to lacerate Lyon. The French have a word for the kind of instinctiveness and slickness that comes with a group of players who know each other well – automatisme – and it’s a buzzword within Arsenal’s dressing room. “Football is subtle, it’s not mathematics,” Wenger said. “There is a logic in the game that means everybody playing for each other.”
Six goals, including four in a nine-minute blur, allowed Wenger’s team to show off their attacking verve. There was variety in the strikes, too.
Olivier Giroud’s came from a set piece. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s from a pacy break and confidently steered in. Alex Iwobi, the 19-year-old nephew of Jay-Jay Okocha, finished off a fluent passing move. Then Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Özil epitomised automatism – both knew exactly what the other wanted to do. The exchange of passes, with Özil’s delicate delay as he waited to return the ball to meet Ramsey’s surging run, was timed to perfection. They made it look easy.
The quality in Arsenal’s attacking game during that spell was achieved without some of their chief creative exponents: Santi Cazorla and Theo Walcott started on the bench; Alexis Sánchez is on his extended holidays; Jack Wilshere and Danny Welbeck were not able to take part. (Wilshere will play on Sunday against Wolfsburg). Lyon’s Alexandre Lacazette, linked with Arsenal, among others, this summer, was not granted much opportunity to impress.
Arsenal’s players are focused on picking up where they left off with that sumptuous performance in the FA Cup final against Aston Villa. “This seemed a continuity of what we have done at the end of last season and in pre-season,” said Wenger. “We have a good team dynamic. We have more cohesion than last year at the same period. That was a post-World Cup year and some players came back mentally exhausted. I hope we can take advantage.”
Özil is one of those who suffered last time and looks conspicuously charged up and focused now. On a number of occasions the German made darting runs, much more driven and obviously forward-minded than his usual modus operandi of orchestrating from his luxury floating role. He was able to mix a more direct style with his penchant for assisting, and earned his goal with a precise finish early in the second half. Cazorla, on as a substitute, notched number six with a low, fizzing free kick.
In the end, the twinge of disappointment that Saturday’s Emirates Cup crowd wouldn’t get the privilege of witnessing Petr Cech’s first home appearance (he will be in Sunday’s selection) was comprehensively swept away.
Arsenal’s combinations, their craft, their hunger, their happiness as a bunch of footballers, reflects the mood that has been growing since they began to hit form at the start of the calendar year.
The attitude of Arsenal’s players is going to make it hard for Wenger to pick his best XI to start the campaign against West Ham on 9 August.
Ahead of that, they play Chelsea in the Community Shield next weekend, which will no doubt give them a much sterner barometer of where they are, and where they hope to be.
“We won the FA Cup and finished third last season. Our target is to do better,” concluded Wenger.
