Arsenal ran out 6-0 winners in a friendly match at The Emirates today. Eddie Nketiah stole the show with a hat-trick, with Lacazette, Aubameyang and Joe Willock getting one each to put the South Londoners to the sword.
With the Premier League set to get back underway a week on Wednesday, our lads need some proper first-team competitive action, and Charlton were our first opponents since football shut up shop a few weeks ago in the behind-closed-doors game. Plenty of photos from the game here.
In a surprise return, Ainsley Maitland-Niles was in the squad after it was revealed he’d been late several times for training and annoyed manager Mikel Arteta, causing the Spaniard to drop him from his squad during the weeks before the Coronavirus break. Lucas Torreira and Cedric Soares missed the game due to injury, despite recent claims they were both fit again following their injuries.
Arteta deployed Maitland-Niles as a central midfielder alongside another ‘bad-boy’ Matteo Guendouzi, an unusual partnership which reaped dividends in the first 45 minutes.
With the score at 2-0, Maitland-Niles and Guendouzi were subbed at half time and he played Xhaka, Willock and Ceballos in the midfield.
Arteta said recently that:
“Ainsley needs to put his head down and work hard, show me every day in training that he wants it more than anyone else, he wants to play for this club and fight for his place…”
Looks like he may have done just that giving Arteta a nice new selection headache.
Watch the match highlights here, courtesy of Arsenal.com
It’s thought that we will play another friendly before we take on Man City at The Etihad on the 17th June.
