Arsenal failed to complete their Asian pre-season tour with a clean sweep of victories as they were beaten 1-0 by rivals Tottenham Hotspur in Hong Kong. The goal itself, a long range chip over David Raya from Pape Sarr might arguably have been ruled out with the help of VAR; however, there was no such help here.
The Gunners struggled to break down Thomas Frank’s side, and some of the players’ celebrations at full-time from the Tottenham half indicated that this was a big moment for them. Arsenal will focus on taking the preparations back to London with two final games at the Emirates before the Premier League gets underway.
It was a frustrating match for many reasons. Even though we did catch a glimpse of Viktor Gyokeres, the Swede was limited in what he could do with little service.
One touch, one chance
Viktor Gyokeres may have been on the field for less than twenty minutes, during which he was limited in terms of touches; however, the Swede wasted no time in showing that he can do more than just score. With a cross chipped into the box in a crowd of Spurs players, the striker brought the ball down, turned, and found Martin Zubimendi, who should have done better with the shot.
While everyone was focused on the goals Gyokeres was known for scoring, it would have been easy to miss how many he created, too. He managed 28 assists in the past two seasons for Sporting CP and nearly added his first in an Arsenal shirt.
Making an impression
Max Dowman again impressed when coming off the bench for Arsenal for the third time this pre-season. Considering there have been a number of other youngsters like Louie Copley, Tommy Setford, and Ismael Kabia who haven’t got any minutes, this is quite telling.
Even some senior players like Albert Sambi Lokonga haven’t played. However, it was rather telling that Spurs were doubling, sometimes even tripling up on Dowman when he was on the ball in the wide area.
Teams are taking notice and preparing for the starlet’s talents. How much action Dowman gets this season remains to be seen, but based on what we have seen so far, it appears to be quite a lot.
For the third game in a row, there is concern about the viability and threat of Arsenal’s left flank. Leandro Trossard came on and got injured almost immediately, which is itself a worry, while Gabriel Martinelli barely threatened besides a moment when he came in from the right-hand side before skying a shot over the bar.
Reiss Nelson, for a second time, has come off the bench and looked more dangerous than the two players ahead of him. Arsenal are so one-sided right now and something needs to change.
Whether that is done with Noni Madueke coming into the side or another new signing like Eberechi Eze or Rodrygo remains to be seen. But Mikel Arteta has a problem going into the new season that frankly, we would rather not be dealing with come the start of August.