Arsenal: 3 takeaways from Brenftord friendly defeat

1. Fitness is all that matters

Losing is never ideal, of course, and for all of the plaudits that were given for beating Charlton 6-0 at the weekend, the same questions should be asked of this defeat. That said, the only thing that really matters is the fitness and readiness of the players as the team builds up to competitive play.

Speaking about the friendly to Sky Sports, Arteta said:

"“We’re trying different things.  We’re trying to give minutes in their legs to all of the players, obviously you have to change a lot of players through the games.”"

He also commented on the fitness of the players when play commences:

"“I think that’s a big question mark. We’ve been trying in big groups just for 10 days. You can play a friendly game, you can play 45 minutes, but it’s not the same as Premier League rhythm at all. We will have to see that. I think it will be very difficult to sustain big rhythms for 90 minutes for the first few games at least.”"

Ultimately, the loss, the performance, the discussion around the match do not matter. It is about getting players match sharp for the matches ahead. And in that manner, Arsenal have made progress.