London [UK], August 22 (ANI): Arsenal started their Premier League title defence with a dominant 3-0 win over newly-promoted Coventry City in the season opener at Emirates Stadium on Friday.
The Gunners were extremely relentless and charged up after the FA Community Shield win over Manchester City by 3-0 and showed the same dominance in their Premier League season opener.
Once again, the club's new signing Christos Tzolis shone, delivering two assists and was involved in the Gunners' first two goals in his Premier League debut, first winning the ball and setting up an assist for Kai Havertz (15th minute) and then sending in the cross Coventry 'keeper Carl Rushworth diverted into Bukayo Saka's path and the English international did not waste any time in putting the ball into the net in the 23rd minute.
Playing top-flight football after 25 years, Mikel Arteta's managed side showed them the levels, as they failed to make a tackle in the first half and could not get anywhere near Arsenal. Four minutes into the second half, Martin Odegaard's miscued finish added a third goal for the defending champions.
Arteta recorded his 150th Premier League win in charge of Arsenal and reached the landmark in 249 games, joining Pep Guardiola (204), Jose Mourinho (231), Jurgen Klopp (237), and Alex Ferguson (247) in an elite list of managers who reached the milestone in less than 250 games.
Speaking after the win, Arteta said to Sky Sports, "There was a lot to like. We were really dominant and flowed with the ball, connecting well with one another. We should have scored more goals."
"Overall the performance was positive, with some big individual performances."
"When you talk about connection and chemistry those three [Saka, Odegaard and Ben White] have that. They play so many minutes together in the past, but they didn't play much last year due to different situations. Even on the left side with Tzolis, you are seeing different dynamics. I was really impressed," he added.
Coventry boss Frank Lampard also said to Sky Sports, "I did not mind the reaction towards the end of the game as we went on. I saw some okay things there. It was a big learning curve, I believe they kept going, they kept going much to the end.
"There is Premier League debuts; there is noise here, I remember that [as a player]. It is different to the Championship in a way, no matter where you go. So those things are things to handle as a player, and we talked about a lot before the game. They will have to go through that and experience that," he signed off. (ANI)
Premier League: Arsenal starts title defence with 3-0 win over Coventry City
