Cape Town - Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech saw encouraging signs in their Community Shield win over Chelsea, and says they are ready for the Premier League campaign.
The Gunners prevailed in a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw at Wembley, and the former Blues keeper was pleased with what he saw from a team without regular starters like Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey.
"We were missing a lot of players but it's great to see that everybody is ready to compete for places in the squad for every game,'' Cech told BT Sport 1.
"Sead [Kolasinac] came in when Per [Mertesacker] got injured. He had a great game and everyone who came in as a sub helped us keep our quality on the pitch.
"The most pleasing thing for us is that we showed that we are ready to compete.''
The Gunners begin their Premier League campaign at home to Leicester City on Friday.
Kick off is at 20:45.