Another pre-season game, another Arsenal win, although this one against Viking FK was far more promising than the others.

In the fourth minute, Mathieu Debuchy was brought down in the box, earning a penalty. Santi Cazorla stepped up to take it but since Arsenal are notoriously terrible at penalties, he did an Ozil and it was saved. Oh dear. Not a good start.

Viking FK were far from shy and retiring in the opening exchanges and they came at Arsenal with gusto, going narrowing over the bar through Mets in the 15th minute.

The Ox was particularly bright, surging forward and forcing the issue from the outset.

 

Ospina didn’t have a whole lot to do but when he did, he made sure to keep us on our toes… how thoughtful. The Colombian recently said that he’s happy at Arsenal and will therefore stay after all, following confirmed interest from Turkish club Besiktas… great.

Finally, in the 33rd minute, Arsenal managed to break through the deadlock and score through Campbell, who had been good all match. The header, delivered from a Cazorla corner, was almost exactly the same as the one that Campbell himself had previously sent into the box, which Elneny got his head to but the shot was saved. This time, however, it went in. Although the initial powerful header from Mo was brilliant, it was Joel who poked it in.

https://twitter.com/afcstuff/status/761641442133549056

A minute later, Viking FK got a free-kick in a dangerous area, which they initially kicked into our wall before slicing the rebound over the bar.

Arsenal continued to attack throughout the first half, with various other players, including Santi Cazorla, getting a look-in and coming into the game further.

https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/761646078676570112

Sure enough, Santi scored Arsenal’s second goal in the 50th minute. A great run and a fantastic strike with his left foot – lovely.

https://twitter.com/afcstuff/status/761649009027153920

Minutes later, Theo Walcott, who had been poor in the first half, scored, bringing the scoreline to 3-0. The striker didn’t celebrate.

There was barely time to breathe as Arsenal scored again. A beautiful ball forward from Santi out wide to Campbell cut out several Viking FK players and the Costa Rican’s cross to Jeff was turned in by Haukas.

A couple of minutes later it was goal number five – another from Joel Campbell.

https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/761652896442281984

The sixth and seventh goals came from 20-yer-old Alex Iwobi.

Despite being 7-0 up, we continued to attack with ease, with Akpom scoring in the final minutes.

8-0 and a brilliant result to take into our final pre-season match against rivals Manchester City.