Arsenal secured a confident 3-0 victory over Athletic Club in the Emirates Cup, with Viktor Gyokeres marking his first goal for the club in front of the home fans. Coming into the match after back-to-back defeats in pre-season, there was a sense that the Gunners had little choice but to deliver a strong performance. The atmosphere at the Emirates was expectant, and the players responded with an assertive display.
Gyokeres Breaks the Deadlock
For much of the first half, Athletic Club resisted Arsenal’s pressure, frustrating the home side’s attacking efforts. The breakthrough came in the 34th minute when Gyokeres found the net, producing his trademark mask celebration that supporters had been eager to witness. This opening goal reflected Arsenal’s dominance in possession and territory, with Mikel Arteta’s side dictating the tempo from the outset.
The celebrations had barely settled when Bukayo Saka doubled the lead just two minutes later. It was a quick and decisive blow to Athletic Club, who had been holding firm until that point. Arsenal entered the half-time break in full control, allowing Arteta to make tactical adjustments without disrupting their rhythm. The lead provided the flexibility to rotate players and experiment while keeping the intensity high.
Havertz Adds the Third as Arsenal Cruise
The second half saw Arsenal maintain their grip on proceedings, with their passing and pressing limiting the visitors’ attacking threat. While chances continued to fall to the home side, the third goal did not arrive until the 82nd minute. On this occasion, Saka turned provider, delivering a precise pass for Kai Havertz to convert. It was a goal that underlined Arsenal’s attacking depth and the understanding developing among their forward players.
From that point onwards, the match was comfortably managed, with Athletic Club unable to mount a serious response. The result was exactly what Arsenal required as they prepare for their next challenge against Manchester United. The win will have boosted confidence within the squad, particularly for Gyokeres, who opened his account in emphatic fashion.
It’s amazing what happens when you speed up play, put early balls in and have a proper strikers run (great header)
More of this please! Well played
PJ-SA,
You’ll get no arguments from me, well said. 👍
Zubimendi and Gyokeres were excellent today 👌 Shout out to Madueke also. Great performance/result/penalties. Just what we needed before heading to OT. I’m so excited for the season!
Did I see for a period second half, Rice move to 6, Zoob in front of him, and Ode more central in abandonment of two eights, whilst Saka and Maddy hugged touchline? Perhaps it’s the way I watch football feeling for solidity – but Rice was suddenly middle of back 3 with Saliba right and Moscky left, and I instantly felt more comfortable. There is no reason Rice absolutely has to be one of 2 8’s, I understand he would prefer 6 as his stronger position. I’m greedy for more Rice at 6, Ode more central at 10, and Zoob between them.
I like Maddy, he’s a bit old school in staying wide off ball, and chasing back out of possession. He’s different than central drifters in Trossard and Martinelli.
Yok, coming into a system playing false 9’s for so long, still feels a bit shoehorned in. He also holds and runs the ball down blind alleys, that should have been played backwards a lot earlier. I expect, not just the likes of Mosky but also experienced 27 year olds coming into this Arsenal set up right now to improve individually as coached and in performance as they integrate. The difference between 9 and false 9 is when false 9 comes deep you play not to them but through them, and I place emphasis on team to integrate Yok, not Yok to integrate to avoid danger of Yok at false 9 when he was brought in as differential to hang around the box being greedy.
Pls who is this yok you’re talking about?
The only down side to Gyokeres is that he can’t score headers 🤔😂.
The whole team looked good today…. Much faster getting the ball forward. Havertz took his goal well.
Thomas89, so much for the misinformation that Gyokeres is unable to score headed goals; one goal and one hit the post with goalkeeper well beaten.
Agree with everyone else, team was overall much more energetic today, quicker reactions, passes, decision making, and shockingly that resulted in a better game for us. Onto the opener!
Top performance, comfortable win as a reward. Attention turns to the new campaign. COYG!
Zubimendi has changed our world man. The way he plays the ball first time really speeds up play. That ability to slow down or speed up the tempo of a game has been solely missing in the squad for a while-probably since Santi. Does he ever lose the ball? Love the way he tackles without going to the ground.
I like the way we are using Rice in this new set up. Rather than playing as an advanced midfielder, he’s back to playing in a double pivot with Zubimendi just like I suspected weeks ago. It allows him to use that elite passing range of his. At West Ham,he regularly found Bowen with those long balls-Now it’s Saka.
Saka looks sharp,creating chance after chance. And what a baller Calafiori is! Fingers crossed he stays fit.
The movement from Gyokeres was top. The way he can move into the little channel between centre back and full back is great and will cause chaos in opposition boxes.Well taken goal as well.
Odegaard tried some through balls today. Some didn’t come off but it’s a good sign because Gyokeres thrives on through balls. Statistically,Odegaard is one of the best in the world at through balls- I think he’ll get more assissts from them this season because he has runners ahead of him to aim for.
Another observation is Raya is now playing deeper and is not as involved in play. With Zubimendi & Rice doing build-up ,there’s less reason for him to get involved. The left back can stay wide too and only invert into midfield occassionally.
Shout out to Madueke- he created lots of chances in the short period he was on the pitch. Might just run away with that LW spot,though I must say Martinelli looked sharp as well.
Kai had a brilliant cameo as well. Did all the donkey work and still had that composed and impressive finish. He seems to be in top physical condition and it showed in the pace for the goal as well as handling the challenge from two defenders- previously he’d have just gone down hoping for a penalty.
Mosquera is starting to look like a steal for the price we got him. All our new signings have looked good- each solving an area of weakness in the squad and that is all you can hope for.
Thank you for a third recap of the game, this is exactly what I need without watching the game.
You really read my mind on the zubi-cazorla comparison. They are quite different in many ways (very few players I’ve seen as good as cazorla for close control, for example), but zubi’s awareness, sharpness and quick thinking really reminded me of cazorla.
I think we saw a better understanding between rice and zubi compared with the rice-partey partnership, which we discussed some time ago. Hopefully that holds for the competitive games.
It’s often been said Rice is too good to just sit deep as 6 because he can contribute offensively- you can say the same about Zubimendi. The best way to get the best out of each is to let them both interchange- when one joins the attack,the other sits back. We saw it in 23/24 with Jorginho & Rice against Liverpool. You’re spot on about Rice having a better understanding with Zubimendi.
👍
Great rundown, just want to add that that goal from Havertz was absolutely top shelf stuff.
This seems to be the setup Arteta is planning for the season getting it’s first trial. Starting to get excited!
I thought the goal from havertz was a real statement – it showed great hunger to burst through and finish. Just a reminder he’s still here and will be an important player for us.
You know what’s funny, Gyokeres scored a goal you’d mostly associate with Havertz and Havertz scored the kind of goal Gyokeres is known for.
A great long cross from Zubimendi and an excellent header from Gyokeres. Odegaard, Martinelli, Saka and Havertz also did great at producing the other goals
I think Arteta will also make Rice dropping deeper for our first EPL game this season, to approach the game cautiously
But Calafiori should be fully fit before the match day
@Gai, from today’s game I guess some of your worries have been quenched a bit 😊
Gyokeres has capacity to do well in headers and holdup play. If not for good save from Simon, he would have made it two headed goals. Imo, I think Calafiori should start ahead of MLS if fit.
Masquera would be a good deputy for Gabriel/Saliba.
It was interesting to see depth on the bench. For tough/ physical opposition DRice will do well as a NO6
Yeah, Gyokeres’ header and hold-up play were very good in the last game
I hope he’ll show his agility again in Old Trafford
Congratulations, well played, so happy we just won our first piece of silverware, nice feeling. A better game today. Let’s go to the theatre of dreams!
Zubimendi is the missing link for us
Sensational player.
The glue
So the silly little pre-season panic is over then.
🤣🤣🤣
Stop being sensible, sensible gooner 😊
Kai Havertz has a big part to play for us.
A vastly underrated player
Yes he is underrated
My soccer coach from Scotland would say: A TERRIFIC header, truly one for the ages. What a way to start your scoring account at Arsenal Football Club. You’re the man, Viktor Gyokeres!
Are we sure Racoon is injured? People missing just before medical somewhere else sometimes. For example, Eze starting on Sunday suggests no handshake close with either Arsenal or Spurs.
some outlet would pick up on it if he were close to going anywhere. Probably is genuinely injured.
Arsenal moving to elite level, it’s been long to get a wide smile!
Second half looked pretty good. (I’ll hopefully get to see the first) From what I could see, it was much more like a proper game, rather than heaps of changes and no real identity which Wednesday evening exposed
Zubemendi is a class act and i liked the way Calafiori operated as a conventional left back.I don’ t know what Havertz has been up to during the off season but he seems stronger and fitter than ever and will give Arteta a pleasant headache when it comes to selecting a starting eleven.Lets hope we can start the season with 3 points to raise the confidence level of our entire squad.
He has never showed the turn of speed we saw, before.
The pre-season games have shown that all the new signings that Arsenal have made ahead of the coming season have been really good. All the new players have played really well at a high level. Especially Zubimendi, Madueke and Nørgaard have impressed me. Ødegaard’s slightly weak performances in pre-season and throughout last season show the need for players, who can rotate with Odegaard. IMO Arsenal clearly need a player like Eze, who is very creative and has a good football brain. Eze will undoubtedly manage to send good deep passes to Gyökeres, who is dependent on good passes from his teammates. At the same time, last season showed that Eze is good at scoring important goals in games as well. Having Eze and Nwaneri as rotation players for Ødegaard will be hugely important in a long and demanding season. Eze is very versatile and can play in more positions, so I want Arsenal to get the Eze deal over the line asasp.
Only watched highlights, got to admit the person who ran through Athletic defense and scored the 3rd goal was so fast and strong, I never thought that was Havertz. Keep his form going, he is like a new signing if following this trajectory. I am so glad to see him growing so well in the face of healthy competition.
A pre-season home win (at last) and three good goals. Gyokeres and Havertz on the score sheet with particularly fine goals. Zubimendi was very good and Madueke also showed why he was bought.
However, Athletic were poor, with little interest in the game generally (other than the penalty shoot-out) as far as I could see. Their best player, on paper, Nico Williams was almost “invisible” so it’s little wonder (although still surprising) that they’ve had such a very poor run of results in recent games.
Nobody knows how good the new look Utd will be week (Amorim least of all, I suspect, at this stage) but I doubt they’ll be as accommodating as Athletic were yesterday. Arsenal may well be more “properly” tested there – although that’s no bad thing.
Totally agree Bertie.
Even our own players (apart from Gyokeres in my opinion) were playing at 80% of their true capabilities.
I did find the celebration of the “Cup” rather embarrassing as well and I’m sure the players did as well.
Ken1945,
Yes, I thought the intention of the celebration (at least) was OTT. Anyway, let’s hope the team, with all the new players, can celebrate a “real” trophy at the end of the coming season.
Ken1945 and Bertie,
Regarding the trophy celebration. And that’s why other clubs fans laugh when Arsenal win the trophy they came up with.
So our Starting 11 plays together for the 1st time this season and suddenly we play much much better. Where are all the whiners? right under the rocks again.
If you thought Arteta or any manager worth its salt would show all the new tactics, combinations and adjustments right at the start of pre-season, to give managers more time to analyse it you were delusional.
Just like the genius on here who was complaining when Arteta didn’t give him a detailed explanation of how he was gonna use Havertz in the 1st interview after he was bought.
Oh no, now they know our tactics 🤣
Good thing we didn’t reveal them too early because the seasons only till May’26 🤣
Found the idiot
Think PJ -SA found the idiot .
One good game in preseason against an awful opposition and you come out flapping your gums ,let me guess your one of those that will disappear if things go south when the league starts ,at least keep your trap shut till then buddy .
Cannot wait for you to spout your vAR conspiracy again (not )
Wow! Goals from open play. Gyokores looked better, Zubimendi looked better, well taken goal from Haverz. Still lacking real shape and cohesion but they have a week to work on that.