Arsenal ease to win on Premier League's opening night
Arsenal 3 - 0 Coventry City
Arsenal began their Premier League title defence with a comfortable victory over newly promoted Coventry City
Author | DJ
Stadium | Emirates Stadium
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| Pre-match atmosphere |
Mikel Arteta ended the club's 22-year wait for a league title last season and, after a commanding performance against Frank Lampard's Sky Blues, his side offered an early reminder of why they are favourites to retain the crown.
First-half goals from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka put the champions in control before captain Martin Odegaard added a third shortly after the restart to complete a straightforward opening-day win.
Arsenal were without new signing Bruno Guimaraes because of injury, but another summer arrival, Christos Tzolis, provided an early glimpse of what he can offer. The Greek winger cut in from the left and curled a shot over after five minutes.
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| View from behind the goal |
Tzolis was involved again when Arsenal opened the scoring
It was a familiar face who supplied the finish. Havertz, preferred to Viktor Gyokeres, converted Riccardo Calafiori's low cross after 15 minutes.
Eight minutes later Arsenal doubled their advantage. Coventry goalkeeper Carl Rushworth could only parry Tzolis' low delivery into Saka's path, allowing the England international to fire into an empty net.
Odegaard made it 3-0 four minutes into the second half, collecting Ben White's pass before beating Rushworth with a slightly scuffed finish.
Coventry were barely given a sight of goal by the hosts and managed only one shot on target, underlining the scale of the challenge awaiting them on their return to the Premier League after 25 years.

