Arsenal got their Premier League campaign off with a bang on Saturday, easing to a 3-0 win over newly-promoted Fulham.
The Gunners ticked all the boxes with the performance at Craven Cottage, with a clean sheet, three goalscorers and a dominant performance.
Most impressive were Arsenal debutants, former Chelsea winger Willian, who had a hand in all three goals, and his Brazilian compatriot Gabriel Magalhaes, who scored.
Willian had an early chance to score, but his close-range effort was saved and fell for Alexandre Lacazette to poke home the first goal of the season after eight minutes.
The 32-year-old went close from a free-kick and looked a menace each time he got on the ball, before Gabriel got on the end of his 49th-minute corner to score Arsenal’s second.
Willian then found skipper Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with a great cross-field pass, which the striker curled into the top corner to sail into a 3-0 lead after 57 minutes.
Coach Mikel Arteta was happy to see the instant impact of his new signings and hopes it lifts the level squad after finishing last season as FA Cup winners.
The boss says: “Yeah, they were both really good. Obviously for Willian it’s a little bit different because he knows the league, the country and he’s very settled here, so I knew his performances would happen straight away.
“With Gabriel it was a big challenge for him to come in today having not played any football for the last six months and he had a terrific performance.
“I’m really happy with all the boys and the way they’re training, but selection is getting more
complicated and with this new rule of just having only 18 players in the squad makes it very difficult.”