How Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City Can Improve

Friendly alarms and title ambitions

Pre season was supposed to be gentle sparring. Instead, Arsenal and Chelsea walked off the pitch with bruised egos after defeats to Real Betis and Juventus, while Manchester City quietly went about their business with a calm win over the K League All Stars.

It was only August, yet the contrasts already felt instructive. The three heavyweights entered the 2026 27 campaign with the same objective, to chase major trophies, but for very different reasons they all had work to do.

Inside each camp there was an acceptance of the same truth. These games did not decide anything, but they exposed everything.

Arsenal: control without punch

Arsenal’s loss to Real Betis fit a pattern that had worried supporters at key moments last season. The build up play looked polished, the structure was recognisable, and the press suffocated Betis in long spells. Yet whenever the game turned chaotic, Arsenal lost clarity in both boxes.

Mikel Arteta had built a side that valued control above all else. Against Betis that control existed between the penalty areas, but it did not translate into ruthless actions near goal. Arsenal still seemed to rely too heavily on perfect sequences, neat combinations and the same few patterns out wide.

If Arsenal want to finally turn promise into a title, three improvements feel essential.

First, greater variety in the final third. The Betis back line settled because they knew what was coming: overlaps on the left, cutbacks from the right, intricate one twos at the edge of the box. Arsenal need more vertical runs from midfield, more early crosses, and more willingness to shoot through traffic instead of always trying to reach the cutback zone.

Second, better management of transitions. Whenever Betis broke through the first press, Arsenal’s rest defence was exposed. The distances between full backs and centre backs were too large, the defensive midfielder was dragged into wide areas, and runners from deep were not tracked. Arteta’s system asks his side to camp high up the pitch, so the counter pressing after losing the ball must be sharper and more coordinated.

Third, a clearer plan B for game states. Once Betis led, they defended deeper and forced Arsenal to chase. The response became predictable and anxious. The coaching staff are already working on alternative shapes, including using a second striker or a more direct target late on. That flexibility will be vital in tight Premier League and Champions League games.

Arsenal are close, closer than the defeat made them look. Yet until they connect their aesthetic football with a nasty edge in both boxes, days like the Betis loss will hover in the background of every title conversation.

Chelsea: a new idea, an old problem

Chelsea’s defeat to Juventus felt less about tactics and more about identity. Enzo Maresca had only just started imprinting his ideas on a squad that still looked like a half finished puzzle.

There were moments when Chelsea looked smooth in possession. The build up from the back, with the keeper and defenders pulling Juventus into uncomfortable areas, hinted at Maresca’s philosophy. But the longer the game went on, the more familiar issues resurfaced.

First, the lack of chemistry in the attacking third. Chelsea created promising situations but turned them into half chances because runs and passes were not synchronised. Wide players came short when the pass went long, midfielders drove forward without support, and the striker often received the ball isolated against multiple defenders.

For Maresca, the priority is to build automated movements in attack: rehearsed rotations, pre planned third man runs, and clearer roles for each forward. Until those patterns settle, Chelsea will continue to look like a team that can play through pressure but not slice through defences.

Second, discipline without the ball. Juventus repeatedly exploited gaps between Chelsea’s lines. When the press was beaten, the midfield did not drop quickly enough and the back line retreated unevenly. If Maresca persists with a high starting position for his defenders, the timing of the press from the front must improve or Chelsea will be constantly running toward their own goal.

Third, emotional control. There was frustration in the dressing room about simple mistakes, rushed passes and poor decisions near their own area. Given the youth of the squad and the churn of recent seasons, that was no surprise. But confidence and calm in possession are central to Maresca’s idea. Chelsea must cut down the unforced errors that gift momentum to opponents.

This season for Chelsea is about turning potential into a coherent structure. The Juventus loss underlined how far they still had to travel. The ceiling is high, but the floor needs raising urgently.

Manchester City: evolution, not revolution

Manchester City’s win over the K League All Stars did not send shockwaves through the sport, yet it might have been the most instructive of the three fixtures. While Arsenal and Chelsea wrestled with doubt, City looked like a club that knew exactly what it was and what it wanted to become next.

The most striking feature was how familiar City’s patterns remained. The automatisms were intact: full backs stepping into midfield, wingers holding width, midfielders drifting into half spaces. Even with rotations in the starting eleven, the structure hardly changed.

That stability is City’s great advantage. It allows them to experiment from a position of strength rather than fear. The All Stars game highlighted two areas where City can still improve.

First, refreshing the press. At times last season City looked half a second slower when hunting the ball. Against energetic opponents that tiny delay turned into spaces between lines. The performance in Korea hinted at a renewed emphasis on aggression without the ball, with forwards and midfielders jumping together rather than in isolation.

Second, speeding up the central combinations. City remain elite at circulating possession, but there were phases even in victory where the ball moved sideways too often. When they increased the tempo through the middle, the All Stars could not live with them. That ability to suddenly accelerate, to go from patient to piercing, will decide whether City stay ahead of rivals who are studying them every week.

For City, improvement is not about fixing flaws as much as staying ahead of the curve. For Arsenal and Chelsea, it is about closing gaps that pre season inconveniently brought into focus.

The race before the race

Pre season results never told the full story, but they whispered truths. Arsenal needed more bite, Chelsea needed more structure, City needed to keep evolving.

If Arteta could add brutality to Arsenal’s beauty, if Maresca could turn Chelsea’s ideas into habits, and if Xabi Alonso could refresh City without losing their core identity, then the 2026 27 Premier League campaign promised to be one of the most tactical and brutal title races in years.

The real season was still days away, but the race to improve had already started.