Arsenal claimed a 4-1 win over Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen at the Emirates on Wednesday as they stepped up their preparations for the new season.
Oleksandr Zinchenko, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus scored in the first half for Mikel Arteta's side, with Kai Havertz adding a fourth goal shortly after the break in a pre-season friendly that saw former Arsenal captain Granit Xhaka return to the club.
Xhaka, who spent seven seasons at Arsenal before leaving for Leverkusen last summer, was greeted with a “welcome back” message on the big screen before kick-off.
Arsenal took the lead after eight minutes. After a good team move, Havertz sent the ball towards the edge of the area, where Zinchenko finished with a first-time left foot shot into the bottom corner of the net.
Arsenal had much more to offer as the hosts doubled their lead a minute later. After Arsenal won the ball back in Leverkusen’s half of the pitch, Martin Ødegaard, Jesus and Havertz were involved in a series of quick passes before Trossard coolly beat a defender and fired a low shot from the centre of the area.
Jesus, who started as No9, made it 3-0 seven minutes before the break, dribbling past a defender and then firing a shot past Leverkusen goalkeeper Matej Kovar from 20 yards.
Jesus was taken off at half-time but received praise from his coach.
“I said it from day one, the first feeling when I saw him after speaking to him at the end of the season is that he was something different,” Arteta said of Jesus in his post-match press conference. “I could feel it. His energy was different, the way he looks is different, the way he moves is different. He really wants it.”
“Now it's about finding that consistency and doing it in any context, against any opponent, against any formation, any day, every three days, for 90 minutes, for 30 minutes, for 70 minutes. If you perform in those circumstances, it looks good.”
Arteta made four changes at the break, including England internationals Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice. It didn't take long for Saka to make his presence felt, sending in a low cross that was cleared right into the path of Havertz who headed in from close range in the 65th minute.
Leverkusen substitute Adam Hlozek pulled one back in the 76th minute, but it was little more than a consolation goal.
“We can take a lot of positives from the game and the result,” Arteta said. “The way we played had a lot of positives, both collectively and individually.”
“There are a lot of things to learn from this as well. I think we can improve, especially in the second half when we made seven changes. But, once again, it was a really good test, a really good team that is very well coached and it was a good performance.”
While there has been no involvement from Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori following his move from Bologna last week, Arteta has said he hopes to give him some minutes when Arsenal complete their preparations for the new season with another home friendly against Lyon on Sunday.
Their Premier League campaign begins at home to Wolves on August 17.
Leverkusen, who finished the 2023-24 season unbeaten in their domestic league, will play their first title of the new season against VfB Stuttgart in the DFL-Supercup in ten days.
