Also, Riccardo Calafiori, who was signed for £42 million this summer, made his start when he came off the bench to replace Oleksandr Zinchenko in the second half.
Isaan Khan from Mail Sport was at the Emirates, and these are the important things he learnt.
Calafiori is greatly welcomed.
The deal for £42 million to sign Riccardo Calafiori was finalised two weeks ago, and today was his first game for Arsenal.
While the 22-year-old was waiting on the sidelines, the Gunners gave him a loud welcome.
He is the only summer signing for the north London club, which made things even more exciting.
After coming on in the 64th minute, the Italian got off to a good start. With the bit between his teeth, he sped up to close the gap on his opponent and ran hard to get back to defence.
The crowd noise during any of his tackles or throws also affected him.
If Calafiori was free on the left side and wanted to get the ball, he would signal to his teammates. A few drives up the pitch and a huge run back on the break were enough to stop a Lyon defender, with David Raya’s save helping.
Even though it’s early, the signs looked good after a 26-minute run out.
Now we can go with rice and saka.
Both Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice were very important to Arsenal’s title hopes last year. They got their preseason off to a good start by showing signs of their better gears.
As replacements, they played in Wednesday’s 4-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen. Even though there were still more levels to go before the new season, Saka looked better at that point.
Things like that were shown this afternoon. Saka started to bother left back Abner right away by moving him in and out and making a lot of trouble as he ran for the box.
He was a real threat to Lyon’s defence, and that made Arsenal want to break the lines right away.
Rice really stepped up and showed signs he is ready. His last game, he was still getting used to full match planning.
He had accurate passes, was always trying to move the ball forward, and made some good stops as well.
On top of that, two of his well-executed corner kicks directly led to goals.
The water rise was expected, but it was still nice to see.
Kings that are set in stone
The Gunners came out on top of one table in particular. I don’t mean the league, but on set pieces. All of the Premier League teams combined scored 20 goals that season, but the north London club scored 20 more than any other team.
They hadn’t scored any goals on their pre-season tour of the US, but today, thanks to two goals from Declan Rice corner kicks, they broke their duck against Lyon.
The first goal, which was scored by William Saliba, looked like it came straight from Nicolas Jover’s plan as a set-piece coach. Except for Saliba, who went to the middle of the goal, most of the Arsenal players in the area started on the back post and then moved towards the front post.
The French player headed the ball over the custodian and into the net. Gabriel got the second goal by running in from the edge of the area and hitting the goal with a strong header.
Mikel Arteta knows how important set-piece goals are for him and his team, and he wants to make sure that happens again.
Mikel Arteta, will you give young players a chance?
Arsenal went back to their normal ways after their pre-season tour of the US, where teenage stars got to play.
The young players who looked the most promise, like Ethan Nwaneri, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ayden Heaven, and Josh Nichols, were put on the bench. The first two got a chance to play after 78 minutes.
That’s when Saka was brought in. We thought it was smart to take him off before the end because he will play so many minutes in the next few months.
It was a good sign that Arteta gave these young players from the school a chance to play at the Emirates. Even though it wasn’t quite the same as starting them or putting one or two on at halftime, there was still a small change in the tune.
As we saw last season, the Spanish manager didn’t use his young players much, even in games that didn’t matter.
Some of them are given hope that there is a way to get to the first team by playing here.
It’s important because players will leave, like Reuell Walters who went to Brighton and Amario Cozier-Duberry who went to Luton Town.
This was brought up on the tannoy. The speaker said that Lyon player Ainsley Maitland-Niles would be back.
A stadium speaker said that Maitland-Niles joined Arsenal’s youth team when he was six years old and played his first game for the first team when he was seventeen.
You can go in a lot of different directions.
Finale of pre-season
Arsenal’s pre-season games are over, and their real season starts next Saturday at home against Wolves.
They were well-prepared because they chose teams like Liverpool, Manchester United, and Bayer Leverkusen as opponents.
The outcomes of these games don’t really matter in the big picture, but this is the time when a lot can be practiced, learnt, and measured.
Sometimes you might want to play against teams that aren’t as good. The opposite is what Arsenal has done.
This means that the Gunners should get off to a good start in the Premier League again. The battle is tough and doesn’t give you time to settle down.
The north London club has also tried out different roles and a lot of different players.
Kai Havertz was used in left midfield against Liverpool in Philadelphia, for just one case. The German was played today as a false nine.
After thirty minutes, he made a beautiful pass through the pitch that sent Gabriel Martinelli running to the goal, where he fell while being pushed by a defender.
All in all, things are looking pretty good for the Gunners.
