Arsenal beat Newcastle United 1-0 in their first Premier League game of the 2019-20 season in what was a very average game.
This was Steve Bruce’s first game in charge and he would have been given real hope when the Gunners team sheet was announced as it was made up of mostly youngsters.
Ozil and Sead Kolasinac were left out of the matchday squad due to security threats and surprisingly Unai Emery chose to keep all of his summer signings out of the starting XI.
While Kieran Tierney is still recovering from a hernia operation, players like Nicolas Pepe and Dani Ceballos all started on the bench.
Both these though did see some game time as they came on during the second half but David Luiz remained an unused substitute.
And speaking after the match, Unai Emery revealed why he chose not to start with any of his summer signings despite them being fully fit.
“I explained that the circumstances are different,” Unai Emery said.
“David Luiz did pre-season with another team and he is okay to play physically but he only trained completely with us yesterday.
“On Friday he did 30 minutes with us. I was thinking to give them confidence to work together because they were working well together, Sokratis and Chambers.
“Nicolas Pepe came one week ago and physically he needs to get his best fitness to be ready to play 100 per cent for 90 minutes. I think that today 20 minutes is good for him.
“Ceballos is in the middle because he came before Pepe but he got an injury and he stopped training. But he needs to know the Premier League, so today was important for him and for us.
“I also used Reiss Nelson and Willock because they deserved to be with us and to give them confidence can help us. It’s the same with Martinelli, he played the last 10 minutes because he deserved it.”
