Arsenal vs Como: Preseason Clash at Emirates
Arsenal step up through the gears on Wednesday, and it’s Como – and an old friend – who arrive at the Emirates to test just how ready the champions really are.
This has been a strange preseason for Mikel Arteta. Hard to judge, harder still to draw conclusions from. Too many of his lieutenants have been scattered across the globe at the World Cup, leaving a skeleton squad to absorb minutes and mistakes.
The 3-2 defeat to Borussia Dortmund on Sunday told its own story. Arsenal looked light in midfield, exposed in defense, and short of the familiar control that defined last season’s title run. Yet it also felt like a holding pattern. The cavalry is finally on the way.
Arsenal’s engine room about to change
The headline is clear: Bruno Guimaraes is in the building. A $101 million signing carries weight in any summer, but in a side already stacked with technicians, his arrival screams ambition. The Brazilian could feature in some capacity against Como, offering the Emirates crowd a first glimpse of the club’s new centerpiece.
Around him, the dressing room is filling up again. Declan Rice, Noni Madueke, Eberechi Eze, Bukayo Saka, Mikel Merino, David Raya and Martin Zubimendi are all due back in training this week. Martin Odegaard, the captain and conductor, has only just returned himself.
Arteta knows what this means. With the Community Shield against Manchester City looming on Sunday in Cardiff, this week stops being about fitness alone. It becomes about rhythm, structure, and re-establishing standards.
Defeats to Real Betis and Dortmund have already exposed a few cracks. Without William Saliba and Jurrien Timber – both injured and set to miss the start of the season – the back line has looked vulnerable. The manager won’t be rattled; he understands the context and the depth at his disposal. But he will expect a response.
There are bright sparks. New signing Christos Tzolis has lit up the left flank in flashes, sharp and direct, the kind of winger who unsettles full-backs before kick-off. Guimaraes’ presence in midfield, even in short bursts, should add a different kind of authority.
Preseason or not, this is the week Arsenal must start to resemble champions again.
Fabregas returns with a rising force
Across the technical area on Wednesday will stand a figure who knows this stadium better than most. Cesc Fabregas, once the heartbeat of Arsenal’s midfield, returns as the architect of one of Italy’s most intriguing projects.
Como’s 2025-26 campaign was nothing short of remarkable. Under Fabregas, they surged to a fourth-place finish in Serie A and booked a first-ever ticket to the UEFA Champions League. That’s not a romantic subplot. That’s a serious football operation punching into the elite.
He has been building this side patiently over the last few years, layering structure on top of ambition. The result? A team that conceded the fewest goals in Serie A last season yet still manages to entertain.
The squad bears his imprint. Trevoh Chalobah has just arrived from Chelsea to bolster an already miserly defense. Up front, Alvaro Morata leads the line, offering experience and movement, while Nico Paz brings craft and threat in the final third.
This is not a ceremonial visit for Como. It’s another step in their own evolution, a chance to measure themselves against the Premier League champions in their own home, under the lights, with their manager walking back into familiar territory.
What this game really offers
For Arsenal, this is about more than the scoreline. It’s about Guimaraes taking his first steps in red and white. It’s about Saka, Rice, Odegaard and the rest edging back towards full sharpness. It’s about a defense, shorn of Saliba and Timber, starting to look secure again.
For Como, it’s a dress rehearsal for European nights to come. Can their tight defensive structure hold against the speed and rotations of an elite English side? Can Morata and Paz trouble a back line still searching for cohesion?
Kick-off is set for 2:30pm ET on Wednesday, August 12, at the Emirates Stadium in London. The game will be shown on Arsenal’s YouTube channel, a global window into two very different projects converging for 90 minutes.
Preseason often drifts by in a blur of half-pace friendlies and forgettable lineups. This one feels different. Arsenal are about to reveal the shape of their next iteration. Como are arriving as Italy’s newest disruptors, guided by a club legend.
On a mid-August afternoon in north London, we get an early look at whether the champions are truly ready to defend their crown – and whether Cesc Fabregas’ upstarts are as real as their rise suggests.
