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I had to go to a wedding immediately after the Champions League final in May. Seconds after Gabriel missed that godforsaken penalty and the referee blew for full time, I reluctantly threw on a suit, draped a tie over my shoulders (I don’t know how to tie one because they’re an unnecessary garment), and hopped in an Uber to Gross Pointe with some friends. Once at the venue, I sat politely as one person I barely knew married someone I didn’t know at all while trying not to look too sad about something else. When I was served a wildly different drink from one I ordered by a bartender the country club hosting the nuptials seemingly plucked out of a retirement home, I surely protested too much. Everyone who’d arrived with me knew what I was really upset about, though. I spent most of the reception on an emotional autopilot of sorts. As the band played almost entirely oldies and I danced in a sea of strangers, I kept replaying those key moments from the loss to Paris Saint-Germain in my mind. Cristhian Mosquera losing Kvicha Kvaratskhelia for the first time in an hour of play and giving away a penalty. Viktor Gyökeres taking a second too long to get his shot off and seeing an attempt that would have surely beaten PSG’s anxious Russian keeper instead blocked by a defender. Gabriel’s and Eberechi Eze’s penalty misses. We’d been so close. So painfully, infuriatingly within reach of the truest glory in club football. At times, I needed to excuse myself to my dinner table or outside along the water, just to have a moment alone. And I felt bad for that. But I was mourning the best chance at a Champions League title Arsenal had given themselves in 20 years. I hope you’ll forgive me for saying this, but part of me gave up a little hope of making it back to the Champions League final when the transfer window shut. I still was very sure that the Gunners would be favorites to retain their Premier League crown. But in Europe’s most prestigious tournament, you need world class talent in the top end of the pitch. However, I feel that hope creeping back in. On Wednesday, Arsenal began a new Champions League campaign. They did so at Napoli, facing a gnarly Max Allegri low block. And yet, without a “superstar” attacker like other top European clubs boast, Arsenal utterly dominated a side that finished second in Serie A last season. Mikel Arteta’s men racked up chance after chance after chance, accumulating over four expected goals. Although Napoli did produce some dangerous moments on the counter, the English champions were pretty thoroughly in control the whole way through. If not for some woeful finishing the scoreline could have been a little embarrassing for the hosts. What’s becoming clear in this opening stage of the campaign is that what we saw from Arsenal last season is far from the full picture. They can attack. They can cause serious problems for defenses. They can create big chances and score goals, even if Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli, and Gabriel Jesus have departed and only Christos Tzolis has come in. Maybe they don’t need that superstar attacker right now. And maybe it’s not foolish in the slightest to believe they can go one step better this season after all. Ballers Martin Ødegaard The captain continues to lead by example. Against Napoli’s deep-sitting defense, the Norwegian pulled the strings for the entirety of the siege on the Italian team’s goal. Ødegaard finished with a whopping 121 touches in the match and completed 91 of 105 attempted passes. He also completed 72 touches in the final third, joining elite company listed in the Sofascore tweet below. Truly, he ran the show. Ødegaard also created six chances, the most of the match. Among those was a ball fed to Bukayo Saka to give him perhaps the second-best opportunity of the game as well as a pass to Tzolis late on which put him in solid shooting position. A few of his infamous scoop passes also came off, with one resulting in Piero Hincapié missing the best chance of the game. Ødegaard also kickstarted a counter that saw Noni Madueke one-on-one with Vanja Milinković-Savić. Of course, the contribution we’ll all remember from this match was the skipper’s highlight reel-worthy thunderbolt of a winner. In the 75th minute, as time was starting to run out and many of us began to make our peace with a draw, Tzolis teed up Ødegaard for a shot from just outside Napoli’s penalty area. The Norwegian thunderously thumped it past Milinković-Savić and in off the post to give Arsenal a lead they wouldn’t squander. He now has four goals in all competitions. You could not have asked for a better start to the season for the Arsenal captain. Ezri Konsa Perhaps the best compliment I can pay Konsa is that at times, I forgot that William Saliba is out injured. The Englishman was once again tremendous in his second start for the Gunners. For much of the match he was left to mark Rasmus Højlund, who still boasts size and athleticism even if he isn’t the most lethal striker around. But Konsa kept the Danish forward quiet without much fuss. He was also tremendous defending out wide. On multiple occasions, the Englishman confidently stepped out to the wing and blocked crosses from the Napoli wide forward. Konsa also seemed to enjoy bullying Alisson Santos throughout the night, revealing an aggression perhaps belied by the calmness of his game. On the ball, he continues to be great. Konsa completed all of the 54 passes he attempted. That’s right, not a single pass was misplaced by the Englishman. The center back also made 10 passes into the final third. I’ll go ahead and say this now: getting his signing over the line will probably prove more important than bringing in another attacker. Piero Hincapié The Ecuadorian came into the starting lineup in relief of Riccardo Calafiori and produced a very steady performance. Defensively, he gave up nothing. He won three of five aerial duels and ended the game with two tackles and seven recoveries. He blocked crosses, timed his challenges well, and cleaned up messes around him. Matteo Politano had absolutely no way of threatening him. But the thing I really want to shout out Hincapié for is his involvement at the other end of the pitch. The left back was a surprisingly prominent figure in the final third at Napoli. He popped up at the end of multiple back post crosses and often got into central areas in the box to help cause havoc. As a result, he finished the match with three shots (four if you want to count the mishit cross that forced a save from the opposition keeper). Considering the fear of what we’d lose offensively if Calafiori were to miss time, it is a bit comforting to see that Hincapié can contribute in that regard. Of course, we might need assurances that he won’t make a habit of skying the ball over the crossbar from three yards out. Fallers Viktor Gyökeres In this match, the Gunners accumulated 4.05 xG. Arteta’s men took 26 shots against Napoli. But exactly none of those attempts were made by Gyökeres. I find that a bit concerning, if I’m being honest. The Swede continues to not get into shooting opportunities in game states or against teams that you’d really expect him to. And if we want to take this criticism a step further, there were times during the match when it really felt like Arsenal could have used a forward who was consistently getting involved in the linkup play in and around the penalty area instead of simply standing next to a defender. In the end, Gyökeres left the pitch having amassed nine touches. Kai Havertz, who replaced him, finished with 17. I think that says a lot. Eberechi Eze I’ve talked about Eze recently so I’ll keep it short this time. He isn’t doing enough to stake a serious claim for a starting spot in the team. He keeps letting games pass him by, and I thought he was a bit sloppy on the ball at times on Wednesday. Tzolis, on the other hand, now has four assists in all competitions and has clearly surpassed him in the pecking order. He’ll start at Sunderland this weekend. What is Eze prepared to do to overtake the Greek? Arsenal’s clinicality Ultimately, I believe that much of finishing comes down to variance and that if you keep creating chances, eventually they’ll become goals and the success rate of shots will even out. However, even I get annoyed by bad finishing when I see a lot of it and on Wednesday, Arsenal had me rather infuriated. Between Hincapié’s miss from a few yards out, Saka’s inaccurate effort from an area that should be his bread and butter, and Mikel Merino’s point-blank header that went straight at the keeper, the Gunners could have put the match to bed well before Ødegaard’s effort. They got away with it at Napoli but that kind of wastefulness will cost you in matches with thinner margins. Hopefully, this will serve as a wake-up call in that respect. If you enjoyed this piece, please consider following me on Twitter @Shamsdale or on Bluesky @shamsdale.bsky.social. Or you can buy me a coffee here.