Arsenal’s perfect record in pre-season came to an end on Wednesday after Mikel Arteta opted to name a heavily rotated side for a friendly against Brentford.
The Gunners had won all five of their matches in the off-season going into the game at their London Colney training ground, but suffered a 2-1 defeat by their Premier League rivals. Arteta used the fixture as an opportunity to take a look at some fringe players, as well as a few new signings.
Eddie Nketiah continued his impressive scoring record in pre-season with a strike for Arsenal, but goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Ryan Trevitt gave the Bees victory. Mbeumo opened the scoring early on from a low cross before Nketiah equalised following good work from Reiss Nelson and Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Trevitt settled the game from Rico Henry’s cross.
New signing Marquinhos came close to scoring on two occasions, while Cedric Soares hit the post, but Arsenal couldn’t find an equaliser. They will now prepare for Saturday’s Emirates Cup game against Sevilla, which is their final warm-up before their Premier League campaign kicks off against Crystal Palace on Friday, August 5.
Having only recently returned from their 10-day tour of the USA, Arsenal were without a host of first-team regulars for the game against Brentford. Arteta decided not to field Aaron Ramsdale, Gabriel Jesus, William Saliba, Bukayo Saka, Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka, Martin Odegaard or Gabriel Martinelli.
Many of those players, along with new signings Oleksandr Zinchenko and Fabio Vieira, were present to watch the game. With no Ramsdale, new arrival Matt Turner was given 90 minutes between the posts, while 17-year-old academy star Reuell Walters partnered Rob Holding in central defence.
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Cedric and Nuno Tavares were in the full-back positions, with Mohamed Elneny, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Maitland-Niles in a three-man midfield. Up front, it was young Brazilian star Marquinhos, who joined in a £3million move from Sao Paulo in June, alongside Nelson and Nketiah.
Zach Awe, an 18-year-old defender, Lino Sousa, a 17-year-old left-back, Charlie Patino, who enjoyed a breakthrough in midfield last season, and Charles Sagoe Jr, a 17-year-old forward, were all given minutes off the substitutes’ bench.
Arsenal team: Turner, Cedric, Walters (Awe 46), Holding, Tavares (Souza 76), Elneny, Lokonga, Maitland-Niles (Patino 85), Marquinhos, Nelson (Sagoe Jr 90), Nketiah
Brentford team: Strakosha (Cox 62), Stevens, Bech, Crama, Henry (Racic 62), Onyeka, Ghoddos (Yarmolyuk 75), Peart-Harris, Trevitt, Lewis-Potter, Mbeumo (Gilbert 75).
Arteta has been delighted with Arsenal’s work in pre-season, which has featured wins over Ipswich Town, Nurnberg, Everton, Orlando City and Chelsea. “Yeah I’m really happy, with the performance in general and with the tour,” he said after the 4-0 victory over Chelsea on the weekend.
“The attitude from a club perspective to show here, and all the work we have done and understand how big we are and the amount of support that we get. Then obviously the performance today is a really good example again, that we are moving forward, improving a lot as a team, but don’t get carried away.”
