Positives and negatives as Gyökeres starts in Arsenal’s 3–2 defeat to Villarreal

Arsenal returned home from Asia to face a Villarreal side who were yet to pick up a win so far in pre-season.

There was a great deal to learn from a match that saw Arsenal frequently hit on the counter attack by the Spaniards. In contrast to last week's North London Derby in Hong Kong (it still feels strange writing that) Arsenal went much shorter with their build-up play, moving the ball quickly through the midfield third.

As a result, Arsenal pushed higher up the field and maintained a high line which Villarreal looked to exploit at every opportunity. All three goals were the result of swift counter-attacking.

Losing 3-2 in a pre-season friendly to a well-drilled, intelligent counter-attacking team will do more to help than hinder at this stage of the season. However, Arteta must quickly address the issues associated with playing attacking style and such a high defensive line.

Here are your three positives and negatives from tonight's match.

Positive 1 - Arsenal moved the ball quickly

Arsenal moved the ball very quickly through the midfield third. Whether it was down the flanks or through the middle, Arsenal's passing was fast and direct.

The impact of the speed of their passing was that they were able to get both wide players in behind the Villarreal defence almost at will. Saka and Martinelli both got into great crossing positions in the first half with too little reward.

Both Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ben White created overloads as Arsenal enjoyed the advantages of both possession and territory. White caught the eye as he surged down the wing to latch on to a through ball from Saka. His looped cross didn't amount to an attempt on goal but the intention was positive.

Negative 1 - Lewis-Skelly and Martinelli were not vibing

Lewis-Skelly and Martinelli did seem to be on the same wavelength down the left hand-side and both were guilty of wasting possession with sloppy passes and poor off-the-ball movement.

In contrast to the position that Nodueke took up when he came on much later in the game, Martinelli played too narrow, much like he did against Tottenham last week. Playing narrow is all well and good if the full-back is constantly overlapping on the outside but that did not happen today.

For much of the game Lewis-Skelly didn't know whether to stick or twist and he got little support defensively from anybody playing in-front of him.