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Arsenal Lose To Brentford As Arteta’s Flawless Pre-season Run Comes To An End

Published

2 years ago

Jul 28, 2022.

Benard Joseph

Arsenal Lose To Brentford As Arteta’s Flawless Pre-season Run Comes To An End
Premier League rivals Brentford inflicted a 2-1 defeat on the Gunners at London Colney on Wednesday afternoon.

EDITOR’S PICK

EKO HOT BLOG reports that Arsenal’s unbeaten preseason run ended on Wednesday afternoon by Premier League rivals Brentford in a behind-closed-doors friendly.

Arsenal surrendered their unbeaten pre-season record with a 1-2 home defeat to Brentford.

The Gunners went into the match at London Colney on Wednesday afternoon having won their previous four fixtures. A 5-3 defeat of Nurnberg was followed by a 3-1 success over Orlando City, a comfortable 2-0 win against Everton and a 4-0 demolition of London rivals Chelsea.

But Mikel Arteta’s men came unstuck against Thomas Frank’s outfit as both sides fielded strong teams in north London. Arsenal began with the likes of Rob Holding, Nuno Tavares and Eddie Nketiah, while Brentford started with an XI that featured Bryan Mbeumo, Rico Henry and new record signing Keane Lewis-Potter.

The Bees opened the scoring after just nine minutes when Welsh U21 international Fin Stevens flicked the ball on for Ryan Trevitt, who played in Mbeumo to slot past American goalkeeper Matt Turner.

Despite conceding the opening goal, Arsenal had the better of the early play and found a deserved equaliser around 15 minutes later. Reiss Nelson and Ainsley Maitland-Niles combined well to fashion a chance for Eddie Nketiah who need no second invitation.

Brazilian star Marquinhos squandered a golden chance to give the hosts the lead before Rico Henry burst into the box and played in Trevitt to make it 2-1 to the visitors just before half-time.

Arsenal had plenty of opportunities to find a leveller after the break, but Nketiah, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Maitland-Niles and Cedric all missed chances to make it 2-2.

The north Londoners have one more friendly game, against Sevilla in the Emirates Cup on Saturday, before attention turns to the start of the new Premier League season.

FURTHER READING

Arteta’s side kick the campaign off away at Crystal Palace on Friday August 5 before fixtures against Leicester, Bournemouth, Fulham and Aston Villa to end the month.

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