Arsenal suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of a second-string Juventus side in a friendly at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
Mikel Arteta named a strong side, with the likes of Ben White, Aaron Ramsdale and Granit Xhaka back from World Cup duty, and was almost rewarded after just 40 seconds when Reiss Nelson drove infield from the left and fired narrowly wide.
The Gunners quickly settled into the kind of rhythm that has defined their Premier League campaign so far, dominating possession in Juventus’ half and going close once again inside the first 10 minutes when Fabio Vieira’s volley forced Mattia Perin into a save.
Arteta would have been hoping to see his players build up their fitness ahead of their Boxing Day meeting with West Ham, but saw his injury problems compounded when Nelson was forced off with what looked like a hamstring injury.
It was one-way traffic in the first half, and Arsenal did eventually find the back of the net through Eddie Nketiah only to see the flag go up for offside.
Seconds later, a disastrous attempt by Juventus to play out from the resulting free-kick resulted in Nketiah being gifted an open goal, but the 23-year-old inexplicably hit the post.
The first half seemed destined to end goalless despite Arsenal’s dominance, but Juventus had other ideas and took the lead with essentially their only meaningful attack of the half as Xhaka headed a teasing cross into his own net.
Arsenal started the second half back in control and quickly had the ball in the net after some confusion at a corner, only for the goal to be disallowed once again – this time for a foul on a Juventus defender.
Arteta continued throwing on academy players as the half wore on, giving his youngsters a valuable opportunity to impress as the minutes ticked away. While they were unable to overturn the deficit, a few of these players did stand out – most notably midfielder Amario Cozier-Duberry, who found some joy attacking down Arsenal’s left flank.
Arsenal were comfortably the better side in this match – so it was a surreal moment when Juventus made it 2-0 in the dying seconds of injury time via another own goal, this one from the boot of Rob Holding.
Though the scoreline suggested otherwise, this was an assured and mature display from Arsenal. There could be some concerns over the side’s ability to score goals with Nketiah leading the line with Gabriel Jesus set to be out until February, but if they keep creating chances like they did here, they should be fine.
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