Daily Cannon
·4 December 2022
Daily Cannon
·4 December 2022
A number of Arsenal’s senior stars were involved in a game for the first time since the World Cup break began on Saturday, as the Gunners took on Watford in a friendly at London Colney.
For the first 45 minutes, Arsenal named a senior side against Watford, albeit not a full-strength side.
Karl Hein was in goal, with Cedric Soares, Rob Holding, Gabriel Magalhaes, and Kieran Tierney in defender, Mohamed Elneny, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Martin Odegaard in midfield, and Reiss Nelson, Marquinhos, and Eddie Nketiah in attack.
The Gunners dominated the half, with Elneny involved in the early chances. The midfielder forced an excellent save and saw another shot flying just wide, before Nketiah fired a shot narrowly past the post.
Lokonga then hit the post with a nice shot set up by Odegaard, before Arsenal eventually made the breakthrough courtesy of a curling effort from Marquinhos for 1-0.
Despite Arsenal’s dominance, Watford promptly equalised, capitalising on a long ball for 1-1. But it didn’t take Arsenal long to retake the lead, with Nketiah rising well to head home a Tierney cross before the half-time break.
After that, Arsenal’s u21s had a chance to play the second half, with the entire first team coming off apart from Karl Hein in goal, who remained on until the 58th minute (when u21 goalkeeper Hubert Graczyk replaced him).
Reuell Walters, Taylor Foran, Zane Monlouis, and Lino Sousa started in the defence for the second half, with Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri, and Matt Smith in midfield, and Charles Sagoe Jr, Amario Cozier-Duberry, and Nathan Butler-Oyedeji in the front three.
The u21s almost managed to add to Arsenal’s lead in the early stages of the second period, with Foran heading a Cozier-Duberry corner against the post, but the Championship side eventually took the upper hand.
Joseph Hungbo, Keinan Davis, and Yaser Asprilla scored in the second period to condemn the young side to an eventual 4-2 defeat, but they’ll definitely take a lot from the experience all the same.
Arsenal have released a full video highlights package for the friendly match, which you can check out here.