In the first match of their preseason tour of the United States, Arsenal just about climbed out of third gear to defeat Wayne Rooney’s MLS All-Stars.
With a magnificent Gabriel Jesus chip over the custodian, Mikel Arteta’s team took just five minutes to get going. With a powerful strike from the edge of the box, Leandro Trossard doubled that goal in just five minutes.
At halftime, Arteta substituted Karl Hein, Kai Havertz, and Martin Odegaard, and as soon as the second half began, the referee blew the whistle once more to award the Gunners a penalty. Jorginho calmly completed the shot.
At halftime, Arteta substituted Karl Hein, Kai Havertz, and Martin Odegaard, and as soon as the second half began, the referee blew the whistle once more to award the Gunners a penalty. Jorginho calmly completed the shot.
Declan Rice’s debut, which Arsenal supporters had been anticipating, finally arrived. The most expensive football player in British history was introduced after 65 minutes to a standing ovation.
In the far corner, after advancing on a nicely weighted Martin Odegaard ball, Gabriel Martinelli added a fourth. After that, Kai Havertz scored a fifth goal in the last seconds to give Arsenal the victory and conclude the friendly.
Timber has demonstrated what he faces.
With the productive center-back duo of Saliba and Gabriel from the previous campaign, Arteta chose to begin his preseason tour in the United States. The former has extended his contract with the team. If not for an injury that sidelined him for 12 games at the close of the previous campaign, the Gunners might have kept up the pressure on City.
With the £40 million acquisition of Timber, Arsenal has already made a statement, and the Dutchman had the opportunity to experience firsthand the competition at Audi Field. White, a centre-back by trade, had to step up early to stop the MLS All-Star side from advancing quickly.
And at the twenty-five minute mark, Saliba easily intercepted a through ball before turning an advancing attacker inside out. Just before halftime, substitute Jesus Ferreira did succeed in getting past the Frenchman, and Gabriel covered to eliminate the threat.
When Timber was finally introduced in the 64th minute, Ben White was forced into the centre of defence and forced to play at right-back. Interesting.
What a goal by Gabriel Jesus
Jesus had a pretty great start to life at Arsenal. In eight Premier League games after joining from Manchester City, the Brazilian contributed to eight goals. Then, though, a stretch of six games without scoring was followed by 15 games (across all competitions) missed due to injury.
Jesus will have been disappointed to have placed fourth in Arsenal’s personal goal statistics behind Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, and Gabriel Martinelli despite his knee problem. And after a proper summer of recuperation, Jesus demonstrated just why he should be in charge of Arsenal’s front line.
Saka cut the pass back to Jesus after finding space to the right, and Jesus skillfully chipped the ball over Burki and into the far corner. Anyone who claims that his goal was a cross is being completely untrue. A great conclusion
