Arsenal opened the defence of their Premier League crown in emphatic fashion, brushing aside newly promoted Coventry City 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium, with Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Martin Ødegaard all on the scoresheet.
But for a club that waited 22 years between league titles, Ødegaard was adamant afterwards that Mikel Arteta's squad has no intention of playing it safe this time around. "We don't feel we need to defend anything," the Arsenal captain said. "We want to do it again and that's our mentality... We want to attack the title and fight for it again."
That framing echoed the report published by Israeli outlet ONE, headlined "We don't want to defend the title, we want to attack it," which highlighted the shift in tone around the Emirates as Arsenal begin life as champions for the first time since Arsène Wenger's unbeaten Invincibles of 2003-04.
Arteta struck a similarly combative note when asked about protecting the trophy his side won on the final day of last season, replying that the aim this year was "attacking another Premier League" rather than simply sitting on what they already hold.
The performance against Coventry backed up the talk. Havertz opened the scoring in the 15th minute, Saka doubled the lead midway through the first half, and Ødegaard added a third early in the second to complete a comfortable afternoon against Frank Lampard's side, who were making their first top-flight appearance in 25 years.
The headline act, though, was Christos Tzolis. The Greece international, signed from Club Brugge for a reported £34 million as Leandro Trossard's replacement, started on the left wing and had a hand in both of the opening two goals — winning back possession to launch the move that led to Havertz's goal, then supplying the cross that Saka finished.
Ødegaard was full of praise for the new arrival. "He played a brilliant game," the Norwegian said of Tzolis. "He's been brilliant all preseason. He's so lively, it's hard to defend against him. He's a really intelligent player — he always looks up and finds the right pass."
Tzolis arrives in north London with a strong scoring record from his season at Club Brugge, where he registered 17 goals and 23 assists, and adds further attacking depth to a squad that also completed the signing of defender Ezri Konsa from Aston Villa, who was introduced to supporters before kickoff.
Arsenal's title triumph last season ended a run of three straight runner-up finishes behind Manchester City and snapped a wait stretching back to 2003-04 for the club. Arteta became the first Arsenal manager since Wenger to lift the Premier League trophy, doing so after City failed to keep pace on the final day of the campaign.
One match into the new campaign, the message from the Emirates is unambiguous: last season's success is the platform, not the ceiling.
