Since winning the Championship by 11 points from Ipswich Town, Coventry have spent about £130m, breaking their transfer record four times already this summer.
They have signed midfielder Frank Onyeka, centre-back Aurele Amenda, winger Loum Tchaouna and goalkeeper Carl Rushworth, while Ghana midfielder Caleb Yirenkyi was their record signing at £23.1m.
All five started at the Emirates, while fellow new arrivals, Gustavo Hamer from Sheffield United and striker Taiwo Awoniyi from Nottingham Forest, came on as substitutes.
All of them have top-flight or international experience, as well as physicality to their game, but even those additions did little to prevent Arsenal from asserting their superiority on Friday night.
When asked what Lampard told the players at full-time, captain Matt Grimes said: “Our season won’t be defined by coming to places like this and getting beaten. Coming here against players like this is always going to be a tough ask.”
But a game that could define their season follows next week when they host Hull City – who came up through the play-offs – at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
The Sky Blues have the toughest opening schedule of any team this season, according to Opta, with trips against Manchester City and Nottingham Forest to come next month, so the game against Hull takes on greater significance.
The teams played out goalless draws in both meetings in the Championship last season.
“With that start, we have to remain calm,” admitted Lampard.
“We want to get rolling. We had a good feeling last year of winning games and it makes everything pretty easy. It won’t be so easy this year, but we want to get those points for sure.”
Returning to the Premier League was hard for the Sky Blues. But now it gets even harder.
