Henrikh Mkhitaryan could make his first appearance in an Arsenal shirt against Swansea, but what can we expect from our new number seven?

We would all love for Mkhitaryan to make an instant impression, but the reality is that it might take some time for him to bed in. There should be no shortage of effort from him, however.

He’s a player who will at least look like he’s being busy as he travels with the ball and looks to take players on, nor will he be shy of playing a through pass when it’s on. How successful that will be depends as much on his teammates as it does him.

Like all players when they change clubs, Mkhitaryan will need time to get on the same wavelength as his new teammates and come to grips with what the manager is asking of him.

At United, he may have learned patterns of play and developed habits that won’t be so useful at Arsenal, but given his technical quality and intelligence, he should have little problem connecting with our midfielders.

Yet, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if there were a few misplaced passes and a lack of end product. Arsenal’s movement off the ball in recent weeks has been poor, and Swansea will likely be obstinate opponents.

The chances of a début goal or assist might be on the low side. In addition, Mkhitaryan has his own form to worry about. He arrives at the club after being left out of several United games and may be lacking in confidence.

That might see him play safe, or he may produce the odd wrong decision. In full flight, Mkhitaryan is a wonderful player to watch. He can breeze past opponents and slice open defences. He also has a range of finishes that he can bring out should a chance fall his way.

A fresh start might give him the impetus to make an impressive début. However, it’s best to be realistic about things. The Armenian is searching for form and will be playing in a very different team to what he’s used to.

More than that, he’s not Alexis Sanchez. We’ve come to expect match-winning performances from the Chilean. We knew he could turn bad performances into results through his quality.

Maybe Mkhitaryan can do that as well with time, but off the bat, I would expect plenty of endeavour with a few signs of rustiness. Anything more than that would make it a very good début.