Arsenal beat Everton 2-0 in Baltimore thanks to two goals in three minutes in the first half.
New boy Gabriel Jesus picked up where he left off in Germany by breaking the deadlock with a ferocious strike into the roof of the net after a corner fell to his feet on 33 minutes.
The Brazilian then turned provider for Bukayo Saka who beat Jordan Pickford from close range much to the delight of the Gunners contingent at the M&T Stadium in Baltimore.
The touch. 🤌
The finish. 🤌
The celebration. 🤌Love that, @gabrieljesus9! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/nuOVfpO1mT
— afcstuff (@afcstuff) July 16, 2022
Mikel Arteta fielded a strong side for the occasion with William Saliba starting in the centre of defence alongside Gabriel and Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka anchoring the midfield.
In the clearest indication yet that he’ll be the new captain of the club, Martin Odegaard wore the armband.
Gabriel Jesus links up with Bukayo Saka to double Arsenal’s lead! 😍 #afc pic.twitter.com/NqXBQyPlsO
— afcstuff (@afcstuff) July 16, 2022
There were wholesale changes after the break with the likes of Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Nicolas Pepe and Eddie Nketiah all getting minutes.
Those players expected to leave the club soon – Bernd Leno, Lucas Torreira and Flo Balogun (on loan) were left on the bench.
After the game, Arteta said: “It was good, two really different halves. I think the first half we were really good, really intense. We understood where the spaces were and the execution was really good. We were a threat all the time, we had a lot of bodies attacking. We were really direct, the counter press was top, I really liked that we conceded nothing.
“The second half we started a bit sloppy. We changed the formation and we had too many giveaways, it didn’t give us control of the match. We last 20 minutes we changed again and I think we got control again.
“Overall the boys have done what they are doing in training. They are training really well, really high intensity in every session and you can see the way they play.”
Arsenal’s next test will be on Wednesday/Thursday against Orlando City at the Exploria Stadium in Orlando.
Great looking team, Gabriel/Saliba/Saka/Jesus/Partey are a fantastic core. Add on Tomi/Kierney/Odegaard/ESR/Ramsdale/Martinelli and we are looking very strong. Plus some decent back-ups in Eddie/White/Holding/Vieira.
Looking forward to next season!
I stayed up last night and paid the £6 for the stream on the Arsenal website. Just wanted to say that it was the WORST quality stream I have ever watched. There was no option to change the quality, so I had to watch a blurry game for 90 minutes. Or maybe my eyesight has gone bad…
Did anybody else have this issue?
P.S – apologies, I don’t have any arsenal friends which is why I’m writing my rant here
The worst part of that is that Everton had the same stream for free.
yes same here! the quality was atrocious. Lasted until half time because couldn’t deal with the grainy screen but looks like I haven’t missed much in the second half
You didn’t. The second half was such shit football.
I’m in the states and it was the same here too. However– another site I visit to comment found a website called stadium dot com had a hi-res link for free.
Don’t know if it’ll be live for the rest of the preseason games here– but worth a try.
Not sure what irked me more– paying the £6 and finding it free elsewhere– or later finding my DVR had recorded BOTH Chelsea’s and Leeds’ preseason matches! @#$%^&*
stadium.com brought me to a Scandinavian sportswear company!
The stream was bad for me, too. Very sorry I got sucked into paying for it.
Looked again at the direct link which was–
https://watchstadium.com/live/the-charm-city-match-everton-vs-arsenal/
The watchstadium.com/live portion might be worth a try next Wednesday.
Thanks!
Tablet was clearer than phone for the most part.
I did feel cheated though. A couple of times, I could rewind 15s, but then every time after that it did a glitch and I end up missing the action and the replay.
Yes, it was terrible. And their “support” was even worse – when I wrote in to ask whether there was any way to improve the stream quality I got back a pre-generated answer telling me what devices I could watch it on and when I responded to that saying “that’s not what I asked, I asked if there is any way to change the quality because this isn’t acceptable, please answer my question” they didn’t respond again at all.
I tend to go on reddit and a certain sub called football highlights if i want to watch games in hd the day after
I thought it was just me. Yea the quality was horrible even on my phone. Couldn’t even cast it to the TV which is fine cuz it would of been 2 pixels anyway. I paid for it too.
Partey is so good.
Stayed up for the first half, very good pressing from the team and lovely goals. Neverton had v little opportunities going forward. Glad I went to bed at half time
I want to believe…
Jesus is here. Believe.
The way he got on to that cross was truly divine.
Oooh, I wanna believe… 😉
What? We love Jesus, right? xD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10Qa2g2smYA
The truth is out there Scully.
Jesus immediately looks at home & looks like he’s loving the Gooner life! Eddie looks so sharp as do Gabi & Starboy Plus & it’s a big plus they looked so together as a group of players Only a friendly but augurs well so far
You’ve lost me there; who is Starboy Plus?
I believe he meant Saks
And it’s just Starboy. He left out a period/fullstop.
I only watched first half but I loved how even in a friendly the press was there from everyone. Partey and Xhaka looked really good back together. Jesus is going to be a proper striker, no messing about. You can instantly see the difference in how he plays as opposed to Lacazette’s style
I love me this Jesus fella, that touch, that finish, what a striker we have on our hands!
I watched the game in person. He worked his ass off the entire time he was on the field, constantly harassing defenders & the keeper. He’s going to get a lot of goals by forcing errors. Eddie seems to have been working on that as well because he was doing that when he came on. Both looked dangerous. This bodes well!
I was there too and totally agree. It was also really great to hear the fans getting behind Eddie.
As we used to say, ditto. Eddie looks different this (pre)season. He’s after it.
I’ll echo what Red Cannon says about Jesus. He was constantly moving and if he keeps this up he’ll be a handful for opposition defenders. I also thought he looked quicker than everyone else. Some other observations: 1. In pregame they did this passing and shooting drill within the 18-yard with Partey, Xhaka, Odegaard, Jesus, Saka and Gabi. It was all about quick one touch passing with different players running in on goal each time. And there were two keepers for much of it so it was interesting to watch. 2. Saliba is a big unit, noticeably bigger than Partey,… Read more »
That drill was very interesting. I noticed in the 2nd half AMN, Mo and Eddie tried much of the same thing playing through the middle.
The support was local and regional. I drove 90 minutes to get there and I know others who came from my area as well. The crowd was really behind the boys and it was a great atmosphere, so I can only imagine what an actual home game is like !
On my walk out of the stadium I saw a guy wearing a Xhaka shirt. Fair enough by itself, but his wife was wearing a Mustafi shirt. The combination was pretty amusing. That family has questionable skills in choosing players to attach their flag to.
Fair play to them for the bravery factor!
Haha
I’m imagining hubby ogling a cute passer-by and getting decked by a slide-tackle.
It’s good to see him hitting the ground running but save some goals for the proper games Gabi son 😆
There are more from where those goals came from.
If you recall what he did with just 5 loaves and 2 fishies… sky’s the limit, lads.
No mention of the unnecessary reducer tackle in pre season? Artet also not bothered? It’s one thing when there are points to play for…
Early breakfast for Saka assisted by Jesus.. Putting it on a plate, served hot.
Jesus’s finishing really is outstanding. Reminds me of Vardy the way he just leathers it and gives no one a chance. It’s ruthless, emphatic and great to see!
There’s a front 3 to have faith in. Gabriel, Jesus and our own personal saviour: Saka.
Some excitement to fill that Left 8 spot and next season looks very bright indeed!
Some thoughts from the game… Really impressed with our forward line. Jesus was a huge get. His energy, press, movement were really impressive. Eddie was very good as well. Showed a hunger, wanted the ball, looked to make things happen. Turner was good. Nice distribution with his throws and seemed in control of his box on corners. Saliba was very solid. Seemed comfortable on the ball, not afraid of a physical challenge. Got caught a few times on the wrong side of the forward and was a bit overly aggressive in his fouls. Reminded me of season 1 Gabriel. Walters… Read more »
Everton = Stoke-On-Mersey.
It was a very Stoke like performance and level from them. I realize it was their 1st preseason game, but 2 weeks till the season starts and they looked horrible. Fat Frank has a lot of work to do.
That pass from Jesus to Saka was Kevin de Bruine esque. Great assist. Then I see Hector Bellerin’s name….still on payroll. 🙁
Getting 35 million quid for Iwobi has to be the best piece of outgoing business we’ve ever done.
Eddie and Gabi getting 50 goals this season you heard it here first
I was another one who paid £6 for that jittery low-res stream. Pah – it’s done, I’ve moved on. In terms of the game and the players’ performances, I was most taken aback by Saliba. He looks so darn assured. Anticipation, positioning, touch, opposition-tracking, always looking for a positive forward pass. I know it was only an hour, but it was a very reassuring demonstration from our not-so-new new CB. Some other observations: Jesus – great pressing, team focussed, lethal in the box. Excellent acquisition. Partey – looked back to his sharpest. Tava – carries the ball with menace but… Read more »