Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta feels they face Crystal Palace tomorrow night well prepared for the new season.

Arteta admits Gabriel Jesus' preseason impact has surprised him.

He said, "When you bring top players from top clubs where they've been successful, they are going to expect pressure. The role Gabby has here will be different to the role he had at City. That will take adaptation and time; he's done it fantastically well and we are surprised how quickly he's done it.

"It's always been my team. We have changed the squad. The players we have are more specific and better to the way we want to play obviously.

"We are really active as you can see with ins and outs. Everything is still open it's a long window. It's incredible how much business the club has already done. It's not gonna stop."

On facing Palace for their season opener, he continued: "It is different. Everything that happened before Brentford was pretty strange and unique [number of reported Covid cases in the squad]. We are really excited, looking forward to the new season and will try to start in the best way."

And on naming Martin Odegaard club captain, Arteta added: "This season we had the opportunity to do it in the way that i believe could work. We chose a player in Martin who has been with us for 18 months and represents the values of the club in the perfect way.

"He's respected by all the dressing room and admired by the staff. I'm happy to have someone like him, he's enjoying the responsibility and he's going to need some support."