Arsenal 2–0 Olympique Lyonnais
by Layth Yousif
ARSENAL welcomed back Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka after their summer exertions with England as Mikel Arteta’s assured side swept away Olympique Lyonnais on Sunday.
In a dominant start, William Saliba put the Gunners ahead, nodding Rice’s in-swinging corner through Lyon keeper Lucas Perri and into the net to make it 1-0 after only eight minutes.
On a blisteringly hot afternoon in north London, Saka nearly doubled the lead, when connecting with Olexsandr Zinchenko’s cross, but his header flew across Perri’s goalmouth to clip the far post and away to safety.
With the smell of suntan cream in the air, Arsenal roasted the visitors in a lively opening by making it 2-0 on 26 minutes – with Gunners centre-back Gabriel following his defensive partner Saliba onto the scoresheet.
In a near-identical goal to the French international’s early header, the Brazil centre-half nodded home another in-swinging corner from Rice, this time through the unfortunate Perri, after the Lyon keeper flapped at the ball.
Lyon fashioned a chance six minutes before the interval, but former West Ham attacker Said Benrehma fired wide of David Raya’s goal from Nemanja Matic’s cross.
Arteta’s side continued to dominate after the break, when captain Martin Odegaard tested Perri, but the Lyon keeper pulled off an excellent diving save to turn the sweetly-hit strike away.
Underlining the north Londoner’s superiority Thomas Party shot narrowly wide moments later, prior to Kai Havertz firing across Perri’s goal. It was then Saka’s turn but his effort was turned onto the post by the increasingly beleaguered keeper.
The club’s new £42m summer signing Riccard Calafiori made his bow midway through the second half, replacing the effective Zinchenko – who appears to have upped his game since the arrival of the highly-rated Bologna defender. As a footnote the 22-year-old became only the fifth Italian to feature for Arsenal, following Vito Mannone, Artur Lupoli and the late tragic teenager Niccolo Galli – which, alongside current teammate Jorginho, also made it the first time two Italians have featured in the same match for the Gunners.
With the match won on an energy-sapping afternoon in the fierce sun, boss Arteta made a raft of changes, including introducing the precocious talented teenager Ethan Nwaneri.
Of course, the real test starts next week when Arsenal’s Premier League campaign starts with a home match against Wolves next Saturday, but Arteta can be extremely pleased with such an efficient pre-season, as his side aim to lift the title for the first time in more than two decades.
