Arsenal made a winning return on home soil in their penultimate pre-season friendly of the summer as they cruised to a 4-1 victory over Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday evening.
Six days after losing 2-1 to Liverpool in the United States, the Gunners swept Leverkusen aside with two quickfire strikes in the opening nine minutes from Oleksandr Zinchenko and Leandro Trossard followed by a third scored by Gabriel Jesus eight minutes before the interval.
With new signing Riccardo Calafiori watching on from the stands, Arsenal made it four when ex-Leverkusen man Kai Havertz tapped home from close range, before the German visitors netted a consolation goal through Adam Hlozek in the 76th minute.
Mikel Arteta welcomed back a number of first-team stars to his squad; David Raya and William Saliba were thrown straight into the starting lineup, while Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka both showed their class as substitutes after returning to training earlier this week.
Similarly to Arsenal, Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso named a strong starting lineup that included summer signings Martin Terrier and Aleix Garcia as well as former Gunners midfielder Granit Xhaka, who is sure to have felt mixed emotions on his return to the Emirates.
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Arsenal's dominant showing rewarded with three first-half goals
Arsenal made a lively start to the contest and they were rewarded with the opening goal in the seventh minute. Havertz broke down the left and his cut-back rolled into a central position on the edge of the penalty area was left by Trossard, allowing Zinchenko - donning his new No.17 shirt - to stroke a first-time finish into the bottom-right corner.
Just 78 seconds later, Leverkusen were punished for trying to play out from the back, and after Trossard initially pounced on a misplaced pass from goalkeeper Matej Kovar, the ball ran through Martin Odegaard, Jesus and Havertz before finding the feet of Trossard, who slotted home Arsenal's second from close range.
While Leverkusen looked sluggish and vulnerable at the back, the Gunners continued to dominate proceedings and they added a third on the 37-minute mark when Jesus drove forward and cut inside from the left before drilling a right-footed shot from around 20 yards out into the bottom-left corner.
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Havertz caps impressive performance with second-half goal
As expected, Arteta shuffled the pack at half time, with Saka, Rice, Jakub Kiwior and promising 17-year-old Myles Lewis-Skelly all brought on as Jesus, Saliba, Zinchenko and Fabio Vieira all made way.
Alonso, meanwhile, somewhat surprisingly opted to make just the one alternation to his Leverkusen side with Jeremie Frimpong replaced by former Gunners youngster Nathan Tella, who immediately brought an attacking impetus that was missing from the German visitors in the first half.
Tella miscued a tough volley off target not long after snatching at another decent chance and slicing his effort wide, and just as Leverkusen began to up the tempo, with Alonso making six changes just after the hour mark, Arsenal wrapped up the victory by scoring a fourth goal in the 65th minute.
Following a driving run from starlet Ethan Nwaneri, who enjoyed a great cameo appearance off the bench, fellow substitute Saka made a trademark run to the byline and fired a low delivery from the right into the danger zone, one that Xhaka failed to deal with as he could only direct the ball straight to Havertz to poke the ball in from five yards out.
While Arteta was jumping for joy, Alonso was cut a frustrated figure on the touchline for much of the evening, but Leverkusen eventually had something to cheer about 14 minutes from time when Tella was slipped through down the right before setting up Hlozek to dink a smart finish over Raya.
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Leverkusen rout a timely confidence boost for Arteta and co
After coming up short in the friendly defeat to Liverpool last time out, Arsenal produced a performance of the highest quality to provide Arteta and co a timely confidence boost ahead of the new season.
Aside from conceding a late consolation strike, it was a perfect evening for Arteta, who not only watched his side cruise to victory against a Leverkusen outfit, who were formidable last season en route to becoming invincible Bundesliga champions, but also welcomed back a host of first-team stars who have managed to get valuable minutes under their belts, while young duo Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri also enjoyed impressive outings in the senior side.
Another positive was the all-round performance of Havertz; the German contributed to three goals (one goal, two assists) against his former club and he, along with Jesus, is staking a claim to become Arteta's first-choice centre-forward next season.
What is next for Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen?
Arsenal have just one more friendly against Lyon in the Emirates Cup on Sunday before they shift their focus to their opening Premier League game of the 2024-25 campaign at home against Wolverhampton Wanderers on August 17.
As for Leverkusen, their final pre-season match will take place in front of their home fans at the BayArena on Saturday when they face Real Betis, before preparing for their first competitive match of the new season against Stuttgart in the German Super Cup a week later.
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