Pre-Season: Arsenal beats United, Celtic trash Chelsea

Premier League pre-season updates: Chelsea's struggles, City's losses, Arsenal beat Man Utd but face injuries. Teams prepare and sign new players.

Gabriel Martinelli fires in the winner as Arsenal beat Manchester City in a pre-season friendly at the SoFi Stadium in the US. Arsenal won 2-1. (Photo credit: Arsenal.com)

Pre-season is as important to every club as anything else; each team in the Premier League is out there preparing for the new season, testing tactics, improving fitness, and identifying new gems.

With the transfer window still open, teams are happy to welcome new faces who they believe will help their cause in the new season while also ushering some players out to free up spaces, but if warm-up games like the ones we're witnessing are anything to go by, Chelsea must be worried.

The Blues lined up against Celtic on Saturday in their penultimate pre-season game, fielding largely new faces. With the club signing everyone in sight since the start of the window, it wasn’t surprising to see them score as many as four goals against the Scottish side.

It was Christopher Nkunku’s penalty late in the game that papered the crack as Brendan Rodgers and Celtic ran out 4-1 winners. It was quite astonishing to see Enzo Maresca keeping a high line with a slow center-back pairing. Will Chelsea be ready for the new season?

Speaking of the upcoming season, Chelsea’s first opponent in the league is reigning champions Manchester City. The champions lost to AC Milan in the early hours of Sunday, their second straight pre-season loss after also losing to Celtic last week.

You can argue that these sides didn’t feature their top stars, but Erling Haaland, Jack Grealish, Ederson, and Jovsko Gvardiol all featured. The Cityzens are expecting their top stars in a couple of days as they recover from the Euro Championship and Copa America.

Arsenal, without Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, and William Saliba, beat Manchester United 2-1 at the SoFi stadium in the United States as they continue to get ready for the 2024–2025 campaign. Arsenal finished narrowly second last term; they know they must be perfect to beat Manchester City to the title.

Manchester United fans were happy to see Leny Yoro line up for the club, but the excitement soon evolved into frowns and jitters as the French lad was stretchered off in what looked like a serious injury. Rasmus Hojlund started the game with a goal, but an injury soon forced him off.

The last campaign was blighted by injuries for the Red Devils. It must be frustrating for Erik Ten Hag to see two of his supposed first eleven members injured even before the start of the season. For the Gunners, it is one step forward, but there are grounds to cover.