Seven things we learned from Arsenal's pre-season including a mistake Mikel Arteta should never repeat

Arsenal’s pre-season is now officially over.

The Gunners first played MK Dons in a behind-closed-doors friendly before taking on Girona, Real Betis, Borussia Dortmund and, most recently, Como.

Mikel Arteta’s men only won two of those games, but results don’t matter in pre-season. The only thing that’s important is preparation for the new campaign.

There are a lot of positives to take from those games, but there are a few issues worth talking about as well. Here’s what we observed while watching those fixtures.

Seven things we learned from Arsenal’s pre-season

Christos Tzolis is a star

Arsenal signed Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge in a £34 million deal this summer.

Nobody really viewed the Greek international as a big signing due to links with bigger names like Morgan Rogers and Vinicius Jr at around the same time.

However, Tzolis was one of Arsenal’s best players during pre-season. He either scored or assisted in each of the first four games before brilliantly converting his penalty against Como in the shootout.

Leandro Trossard was Arsenal’s clutch player during his time at the club, and Tzolis possesses very similar traits to the Belgian.

After watching Tzolis in action, we are convinced that Arsenal fans are going to love him.

The Kai Havertz mistake

Arteta loves Kai Havertz, and rightly so.

The German has had his ups and downs in the famous red and white, but he has also produced a number of incredible moments already.

Most of those positives have come when the former Chelsea man has played as a striker.

However, Arteta has continued to use Havertz in midfield during this pre-season, and we think that is a massive mistake because he doesn’t fit that role at all.

Yes, he can do a job there, but more often than not, Havertz becomes a passenger out of possession, and that costs Arsenal in the middle of the park.

Using Havertz in midfield is a mistake, and we urge Arteta not to repeat it in the upcoming campaign.

Hale End does it again

Pre-season is always a great time for young players to get opportunities, and the Arsenal academy continues to impress.

The popular names all got their chance as expected, but several others caught the eye every time they got on the pitch.

Theo Julienne was outstanding at right-back against Como, Louie Copley, before his injury, was really impressive, and every Arsenal fan raved about Ife Ibrahim’s cameos in midfield.

Josh Ogunnaike, Ceadach O’Neill, Andre Harriman-Annous and Brayden Clarke are the other youngsters who featured and impressed.

We’ve said this countless times over the years, but Arsenal’s future looks incredibly bright.

The Ethan Nwaneri dilemma

Ethan Nwaneri had a very interesting pre-season with Arsenal.

After returning from his disastrous loan spell at Marseille, the teenager didn’t look right in the first few games and was criticised.

However, since his goal against Dortmund, Nwaneri has looked magnificent. He finished that game brilliantly and was very impressive against Como too.

Arteta has a real dilemma on his hands now. Keeping hold of Nwaneri would be the right decision, but there isn’t much space for him to get regular minutes in the upcoming campaign.

Will Arsenal sell him or send him out on another loan? Only time will tell.

The big defensive concern

Arsenal were without William Saliba and Jurrien Timber throughout pre-season, and both players will miss the start of the campaign as well.

That has made the Gunners significantly weaker at the back, and conceding eight goals in their last four pre-season games showed that.

Arsenal are in the market for a new defender, and the hope is to bring someone in before the first Premier League game of the season against Coventry.

However, there are very few obvious solutions on the market for the champions, which is why it will not be easy to get a player in.

It remains to be seen what Andrea Berta will do to solve this issue in the coming weeks.

Marli Salmon: Remember the name

Marli Salmon was arguably Arsenal’s most impressive player in pre-season.

The 16-year-old was given opportunities on both sides of central defence, and he was outstanding every time he was on the pitch.

The youngster’s performance against Como, in particular, was out of this world, and he proved to everyone that he could become one of the best defenders on the planet in the coming years.

As we mentioned above, Arsenal have a defensive problem going into the new season, and they are looking at players to sign.

Salmon could well be the solution, and he could end up saving Arsenal millions if he succeeds.

The unsolved goalkeeper issue

Arsenal used Kepa Arrizabalaga more than any other goalkeeper during pre-season, and we are sorry to say he was really poor.

Illan Meslier has been brought in, and he impressed with a few excellent saves. His distribution looked good too, but he is not top-class by any means.

David Raya returned against Como and proved that he is levels above both Kepa and Meslier.

Arsenal had the same problem last season and the season before, and as we saw in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, it cost them.

Arteta will now have to pray that Raya remains injury-free all season. If he ends up missing a few games, Arsenal could be in big trouble.