Arsenal began their pre-season preparations with a comfortable 4-1 win over Girona at the Estadi Montilivi, thanks to goals from Kai Havertz, Christos Tzolis, Max Dowman and Gabriel Jesus.

This was the first of five fixtures before their opening Premier League game of the season against Coventry, with Real Betis their next opponents in Dublin on August 5th.

First half XI: Kepa, White, Mosquera, Hincapie, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly, Havertz, Nwaneri, Dowman, Tzolis, Gyökeres.

Arsenal took the lead after 15 minutes when Max Dowman did well to wriggle away from two challenges in midfield, before playing Kai Havertz through on goal who finished across the goalkeeper with Viktor Gyokeres occupying two defenders. 0-1.

There was a chance for Christos Tzolis after some lovely play between Riccardo Calafiori and Havertz in close quarters, but the new signing opted to find Gyokeres instead and the striker (who wasn’t expecting a cutback) couldn’t quite sort his feet out to get a shot on target.

Tzolis would eventually get his goal before the first half hydration break, standing up his defender before cutting inside and banging a shot towards goal which nestled into the far corner after a small deflection off Havertz. The Greek forward will be claiming the goal though and hopefully that was a sign of things to come. 0-2.

With half an hour on the clock, Mikel Arteta made three early changes with Havertz, Gyokeres and Piero Hincapie all coming off for Fabio Vieira, Gabriel Jesus and Marli Salmon.

Arsenal hardly got out of first gear during the first half with Girona chasing shadows, and a special mention to Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri who were dominant in midfield.

SECOND HALF

Mikel Arteta didn’t make any half time changes but his side were pegged back within five minutes of the restart, with Arnau Martinez powering a close range header past Kepa after he was left unmarked from a corner.

But the Gunners restored their two-goal cushion almost instantly when Dowman received a pass through the lines from Lewis-Skelly, before cutting inside and cracking a low effort beyond Paulo Gazzaniga despite some pathetic claims of a foul from the Girona left back. 1-3.

Jesus added a fourth soon after when a lucky rebound broke his way, sliding a first-time finish past the goalkeeper with the Girona defence all over the place. 1-4.

Arteta did eventually make a flurry of changes on the hour mark with Ilan Meslier, Reiss Nelson, Ismeal Kabia, Ife Ibrahim, Louie Copley, Brayden Clarke, Ceadach O’Neill, Andre Harriman-Annous and Josh Ogunnaike all coming on for some useful minutes.

With both sides making several changes, the game fizzled out without any major chances although O’Neill did hit the crossbar with a looping header before Meslier made a good save from Abel Ruiz.

Job done for Arsenal who had a good runout and scored four good goals. Next up: we’re reunited with Hector Bellerin.