Arsenal spent £70m ($91m) on new players over the summer in what many expected to be an overhaul of the current playing squad. Key positions were strengthened from goalkeeper Bernd Leno coming in to defensive midfielder Lucas Torreira signing after an impressive World Cup with Uruguay.
Added to that, experienced defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos bolstered a weak looking backline which only had Shkodran Mustafi, Rob Holding and Konstantinos Mavropanos as the options at centre back.
The only new addition who didn’t have a full pre-season was Torreira due to his excursions in Russia, yet 10 minutes after coming on as a substitute for Matteo Guendouzi the combative 22-year-old provided a perfect assist for Alexandre Lacazette to secure a hard fought win at the Cardiff City Stadium.