Arsenal Preseason: Stars Return and Guimaraes Set to Shine

Arsenal step up a gear on Wednesday, and at last it should start to look like Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal again.

Preseason has been a stuttering, uneven watch for the Premier League champions. A 3-2 defeat to Borussia Dortmund on Sunday underlined how stretched they have been, particularly in midfield and defense, with half a team still on World Cup leave. But Como’s visit to the Emirates is timed perfectly: the cavalry is walking back through the door.

Arsenal’s engine room about to roar back

The headline is clear enough: Bruno Guimaraes is in the building. The $101 million signing changes the feel of this Arsenal side before he has even kicked a ball in anger. If he features at all on Wednesday, even for 20 minutes, the Emirates will lean forward. This is a statement signing for a squad already dripping with quality.

Around him, the roll call of returnees is long and significant. Declan Rice, Noni Madueke, Eberechi Eze, Bukayo Saka, Mikel Merino, David Raya and Martin Zubimendi are all due back in training this week. Martin Odegaard, the captain and on-pitch conductor, has only just rejoined the group himself.

Arteta has been trying to build structure and rhythm with a half-strength side. Defeats to Real Betis and Dortmund have exposed makeshift back lines and unfamiliar partnerships, but they haven’t rattled him. He knows what is coming back through the door and how deep this squad now runs.

There have been bright sparks amid the churn. New signing Christos Tzolis has lit up the left flank, direct and inventive, and looks every inch a smart piece of business. Guimaraes’ presence in midfield promises a different kind of control, a blend of bite and creativity that should knit together Arsenal’s play through the middle.

The one cloud that won’t shift before the season starts is at center-back. William Saliba and Jurrien Timber are both injured and expected to miss the opening stretch, and that reality has shaped much of this preseason. The gaps at the back are real; the solutions, for now, have to be improvised.

All of it feeds into Sunday’s Community Shield in Cardiff against Manchester City. This week is about sharpening, reconnecting, and reminding themselves what a full-strength Arsenal actually looks like.

Fabregas brings his upstarts to the Emirates

On the opposite bench on Wednesday stands a familiar figure. Cesc Fabregas returns to north London not as the silky midfielder who once ran Arsenal’s midfield, but as the architect of one of Serie A’s most eye-catching risers.

Como’s 2025-26 campaign was remarkable. Under Fabregas, they finished fourth in Serie A and booked a first-ever place in the UEFA Champions League. That is not a fluke, not a one-season surge. He has been quietly building them over the last few years, piece by piece, until they now stare the Italian elite in the eye.

They do it with structure as much as style. Como conceded the fewest goals in Serie A last season, a statistic that tells you plenty about Fabregas the coach: the romantic midfielder has built a team that is miserly without the ball and still entertaining with it.

This summer, he has added Premier League know-how. Trevoh Chalobah has arrived from Chelsea to bolster that already mean defense. Up front, Alvaro Morata leads the line, a seasoned international presence who can punish any lapse. Nico Paz offers guile and invention in attack, another key piece in a side that can both dig in and break with quality.

For Como, the Emirates is not just a glamorous friendly. It is a dress rehearsal for Champions League nights, a chance to test their defensive steel and attacking patterns against one of Europe’s most aggressive, possession-heavy sides.

A friendly with an edge

Strip away the “preseason” label and there is plenty riding on this. Arsenal need to move through the gears with City looming on Sunday. Arteta will want sharper pressing, cleaner build-up, and signs that his returning internationals can slot straight back into the machine.

He will also be watching how Guimaraes, if used, starts to mesh with the existing core. Where does he stand alongside Rice, Merino, Zubimendi? How does he change the tempo? Those are questions that will define Arsenal’s season, and the first clues may arrive here.

On the other side, Fabregas brings a team that defends as well as almost anyone in Italy and now carries extra European ambition. His back line will be asked to absorb long spells without the ball. His forwards will have to make their moments count.

Kick-off is set for 2:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday at the Emirates, with the game available on Arsenal’s YouTube channel. It is still only August, still technically just preparation.

But with Arsenal’s stars returning, a $101 million midfielder ready to step into the light, and a former club hero leading a Champions League newcomer into town, this feels like something more than a gentle warm-up. It feels like the moment preseason finally starts to resemble the season that’s coming.