Christian Norgaard reflects on ‘special moment’ making his Emirates debut – and vows Arsenal will be ready for new campaign | OneFootball

Christian Norgaard has assured Arsenal fans they will be ready for “the real football” when the new Premier League season begins away to Manchester United on August 17, despite a 3–2 pre-season defeat to Villarreal.

The Danish midfielder, who joined from Brentford earlier this summer, marked his Emirates debut with a well-taken goal but insisted the performance, not the result, was the most important takeaway.

“I don’t think you should read too much into it,” Norgaard said afterwards. “You want to win, of course, every game you play. But again, there’s a lot of positives. Just the execution in both ends that was not good enough in certain situations. Other than that, we had lot of dangerous attacks and lot of dominant possession. So, I don’t think we should put too much into it. The important thing is in 10 days time to be ready when we go to Manchester United.”

With Arsenal’s final pre-season match at home to Athletic Bilbao just around the corner, Norgaard believes the remaining days of preparation will prove vital.

“There are still some things we need to improve so I think the 10, 11 days will be good for us to sharpen the last bits and then we’re ready to go.”

The 30-year-old has plenty of Premier League experience, but admits joining a club of Arsenal’s stature is a major step forward in his career.

“No it is definitely, but I feel like I’m ready for this step and ready to play at this stage so I can’t wait to get going.”

Adding extra spice to the coming season will be the north London derbies, with Norgaard now at Arsenal and his former Brentford boss Thomas Frank now in charge of Spurs.

“Yeah, that is quite funny. It was funny to see them as well in Hong Kong. I had a long talk with both Thomas and a lot of the other staff after the game. So it was really nice to see them, of course. On a personal level, I wish them well, but I know the rivalry is big here. At least when they play us, I don’t wish them any good luck.”

Norgaard was given a warm welcome by the sold-out Emirates crowd, and the moment wasn’t lost on him.

“It was a great feeling, walking on the pitch and in the Arsenal shirt, it a special moment of course, but I think it will be even more special when the season starts and there’s even more to play for.”

And he’s already making an impact.

“Yes, it’s a team that I really well drilled on set pieces and I’ve come from a team who’s really well drilled in set pieces so I’m happy I can contribute on that part.”

“Thank you, appreciate it. Yeah I feel comfortable but of course as a holding midfielder it is not nice to concede goals so there’s still some bits to improve but on a personal level I feel very good.”