Video - Sead Kolasinac fights off armed carjackers to defend Mesut Ozil - The Warm-Up

Virgil van Dijk may as well not bother turning up this season. The finest piece of defending in 2019-20 has already happened and the football hasn’t even started yet. Step forward Arsenal’s have-a-go-hero Sead Kolasinac, who yesterday fought off machete-wielding maniacs as they tried to carjack Mesut Ozil in London, preventing the most flagrant daylight robbery to affect Arsenal since the 2001 FA Cup final.

Thanks to the joys of the internet, as well as the fact London is the most surveilled city in the world, we even have video of this extraordinary moment, which occurred on Platts Lane near Golders Green.

After footage went viral of Kolasinac bouncing along a pavement and trying to move two carjackers away from Ozil like he was trying to force them outside onto their wrong foot, Arsenal said in a statement: "We have been in contact with both players and they are fine."

Terrifyingly, that was not the end of the story as a car chase then ensued. As the Daily Mail reports: “The players were then chased through the mansion-lined streets of north London in Ozil's 4x4 in a high-speed chase that lasted for more than a mile. The childhood friends sped towards a Turkish restaurant on Golders Green Road where they are known, and staff raced to their aid as they abandoned the Mercedes 4x4 in the road.”

Quite an ordeal. And Kieran Tierney now has a lot to live up to if he does join Arsenal this summer.

It was quite the day at Arsenal yesterday. While drama was unfolding in Golders Green, Arsenal fans were also celebrating news of two – yes, two! – new signings.

Real Madrid midfielder Dani Ceballos joined the club on loan for the season – a promising player who has made 56 appearances for Real and has won six international caps for Spain. "We're excited to see Dani join us,” said Unai Emery. “He is a talented player with big technical ability, creativity and precision."

‘Big precision’ being the first attribute The Warm-Up looks for in any signing, this seems quite a capture for Arsenal. And it wasn’t long before the club's social media team had another content assault to deploy, with 18-year-old defender William Saliba joining from St Etienne in a £27m deal.

The Warm-Up won’t pretend it has ever seen him play, but here’s eurosport.fr’s Martin Mosnier on what Arsenal fans can expect:

Two signings which could prove to be very astute, but with Saliba rejoining St Etienne on loan for the season, and Ceballos likely only a short-term fix, Arsenal fans will still be itching for a really big signing or two before the window closes.

The Europa League is back, baby! The biggest summer blockbuster return since Stranger Things saw Wolves kick off their qualifying campaign with a 2-0 home win over Crusaders. It was the club’s first game in Europe for 39 years and after Diogo Jota’s 37th minute opener, it took an injury-time goal from Ruben Vinagre to open up a two-goal lead over the Northern Irish side.

The two teams meet again in Belfast next week and Nuno Espirito Santos isn’t taking anything for granted.

Did The Warm-Up mention it was an eventful day at Arsenal yesterday?

Well that even extended one of the most perfectly-judged Twitter burns in years, courtesy of Mesut Ozil (roughly 45 minutes before Kolasinac had to defend him from machete-wielding carjackers).

Introducing a new segment which may only last one day, but we had to do something special to mark the fact that Daniele de Rossi has signed for BOCA BLOOMIN’ JUNIORS.

Absolutely loving this.

The Warm-Up can’t profess to have ever been aware of Forge FC, who are apparently a Canadian Premier League team, but this morning we thank them for delivering this hypnotic video of a goal from Kadell Thomas to the world.

There’s no football of any note to mention and everyone’s attention should be trained on the third-to-last stage of the Tour de France today, as Geraint Thomas tries to rein in yellow jersey Julian Alaphilippe, and hold off team-mate Egan Bernal, to defend his title. Watch live from 12:15 on Eurosport 1 and Eurosport Player.