Highlights of Arsenal’s friendly downing of French outfit Olympique Lyonnais have come to the fore late on Thursday.
For those not aware, Mikel Arteta’s troops were back in action a short time ago.
Whilst the majority of the club’s star performers remain on leave, owing to either ongoing or recently-completed international duty, a host of the Gunners’ players also continue to be put through their paces, ahead of the return of the Premier League in a little over two weeks’ time.
Earlier this week, Arteta and co, in turn, flew out to Dubai to step up their training efforts, courtesy of a warm-weather training camp.
This came with a view to the Dubai Super Cup, set to be contested by Arsenal, AC Milan, Liverpool and Olympique Lyonnais over the coming days.
The first round of fixtures played out this evening, with Arsenal, despite their heavily reduced personnel options, having thoroughly impressed.
Big Gabriel Magalhães rises highest to nod home Martin Ødegaard’s corner to put Arsenal 1-0 up against Lyon! [@TheAFCnewsroom] #afc pic.twitter.com/FZyVQsIK9n
— afcstuff (@afcstuff) December 8, 2022
Eddie Nketiah, expected to play a prominent role at the Emirates on the back of the injury suffered by Gabriel Jesus, was next on target, after being teed up by the influential Fabio Vieira.
Fabio Vieira, played through after Alexandre Lacazette lost the ball on the edge of the Arsenal box, squares it to Eddie Nketiah, who calmly slots home to double his side’s lead over Lyon! 😮💨 [@TheAFCnewsroom] #afc pic.twitter.com/gU41V3VIsI
— afcstuff (@afcstuff) December 8, 2022
And Vieira soon added his own name to the scoresheet, in putting the finishing touches on a fine Arsenal team move:
Arsenal play some neat passes before Fabio Vieira, from the edge of the box, curls the ball into the top corner, putting Arsenal 3-0 up over Lyon in the first-half! 🤌 [@TheAFCnewsroom] #afc pic.twitter.com/92xmDKI3pv
— afcstuff (@afcstuff) December 8, 2022
This is how things remained through the full-time whistle, before the two sides played their part in a penalty shootout, as per the Dubai Super Cup’s unique new format.
And shot-stopper Karl Hein proved the hero from here, remarkably keeping out no fewer than four of Lyon’s spot-kicks, en route to a 2-1 shootout victory for Arsenal:
🎥 Highlights: Arsenal 2-1 win on penalties against Lyon
Karl Hein with FOUR penalty saves. 🤩 pic.twitter.com/VEl4gphyom
— TheAFCnewsroom (@TheAFCnewsroom) December 8, 2022
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