Second-half goals from Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson seal the Gunners’ victory after Facundo Torres cancelled out Gabriel Martinelli’s early effort.
After all of the talk and excitement about expensive signings, a victory was secured by those raised in-house.
Arsenal were being held by Orlando City with 24 minutes remaining in this friendly. Facundo Torres cancelled out Gabriel Martinelli’s opener in the second match of their US tour.
Mikel Arteta’s side eventually won 3-1, thanks to goals from academy graduates Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson, the latter assisted by fellow Hale End alumni Bukayo Saka.
Oleksandr Zinchenko was watching from the stands in Orlando. His £32 million arrival is expected to be announced in the coming days, ahead of Saturday’s final game against Chelsea.
Eddie Nketiah scored the game-winning goal for Arsenal in the second half.
Storms hit Orlando just before kickoff, forcing the Ukrainian to miss seeing his new teammates in person. The heavens opened up, lightning strikes lit up the dark skies, and the game was delayed by an hour.
Tuchel dismisses speculation about Broja’s future, despite strong interest from fellow Premier League club West Ham.
Even so, the Ukrainian had to wait until the majority of Arteta’s first-choice XI came off the bench. Arsenal started with the exception of No. 1 Aaron Ramsdale.
It didn’t bother them at first. Martinelli played a one-two with Albert Sambi Lokonga and curled a shot from inside the box after only five minutes. It took a wicked deflection to catch Pedro Gallese off guard in goal.
Unfortunately, Orlando was arguably the more dangerous team before halftime. They should have equalized when Benji Michel ran through a huge hole in the Arsenal back four, but Ramsdale made a crucial save.
On the half-hour mark, Facundo Torres cut inside Nuno Tavares and Pablo Mari before firing inside Ramsdale’s left-hand post.
Arteta made changes at halftime, as he did against Everton, bringing on Martin Odegaard, Ben White, and Gabriel Jesus.
The latter immediately shifted Arsenal into high gear. His pace and movement caused havoc, and he appeared to be the most likely to restore Arsenal’s lead. Nketiah, on the other hand. Odegaard set up the opportunity with a nice ball into Jesus, who drove towards goal and attempted to turn inside the area.
When the Brazilian was knocked down, the ball broke to Nketiah, who stroked it home.
Nelson then sealed the victory late in the game, turning home Bukayo Saka‘s low cross shortly after coming on.
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