Arsene Wenger is confident Arsenal's pre-season schedule will sharpen his squad for a tough start to their 2016-17 Premier League campaign.
Last season's runners-up will be without some of their key players for their opening game of the season against Liverpool on 14 August.
A week later the Gunners will travel to reigning champions Leicester, with players like Mesut Ozil, Olivier GIroud and Laurent Koscielny just two weeks into their pre-season training programmes.
However, the Frenchman believes the depth in his squad means that the team will be ready for the opener, with five friendlies in France, the United States and Scandinavia planned during pre-season.
"Let's not forget that we play Liverpool and Leicester in the first two games so we have to be ready physically and fitness-wise," he told the club website.
"What has changed compared to 10 or 15 years ago is that the players come back basically fit today.
"There's no overweight players anymore, there's no players anymore who have not prepared or done their homework and you can start straight away with normal training. Before you had to dedicate two or three weeks first to get everybody to the stage where they can practice normally.
"[We want the players] to be as sharp as possible. Look at the schedule we have, it is a very difficult schedule and we must focus on the players who are here because they are certainly the players who will start the season.
"We have a nice variety. I wanted a game before we travelled to the States, and the States will be interesting as well. After that we travel to Scandinavia."