Arsenal played a closed doors friendly against Millwall on Saturday and they emerged victorious by a 4-1 margin. It was important to get this result after their last two games had not gone to plan and their scheduled travel to the USA got cancelled due to some positive COVID tests.
The match which was later streamed on the club website, showing the Gunners pulling off some wonderful moves and putting together a real show. They played with a cohesion that was lacking at times during the Scotland tour.
Callum Chambers opened the scoring when he reacted to a shot from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang that cannoned off the post. The Englishman then turned provider as he produced a wonderful cross that was finished at the far post by Alexandre Lacazette.
The third and fourth goals were the pick of the lot as they showed brilliant teamwork which was encouraging to see. Aubameyang got to the by-line and sent an incisive pass to Lacazette which the Frenchman cleverly dummied, and Nicolas Pepe was on hand to lash it home.
The fourth also involved Lacazette as his intricate one-touch play with Willian released the Brazilian who then slipped a wonderful through ball. Folarin Balogun got to it, kept his composure then rounded the keeper to slot into an empty net.
There were a lot of positives to take from the Millwall game although it is a bit worrying that the captain has still not managed to score in pre-season. His performance looked sharper and some of the link-up play was beautiful to watch.
Mikel Arteta would have also been happy with what he saw from new signing Albert Sambi Lokonga. The Belgian came on in the second half to be alongside Thomas Partey and immediately showed off his passing range which was mainly forward thinking.
There is every chance that Arsenal will organize another such match before they take on Chelsea on the first of August.
Getting as many minutes as possible will help the team get prepared for the new season and it will show the manager who is ready and who isn’t.
Highlights available here.
Leave a Reply