Arsenal defeated Sydney FC 2-0 on Thursday, thanks to goals from Per Mertesacker and Alexandre Lacazette.

Pre-season is a difficult time to judge players. Few players are fully fit, and the standard of opposition can often be questionable at best.

Nonetheless, it was great to not only finally see the Arsenal back in action, but also playing well against A-League champions Sydney FC.

A crowd of 80,000 was in attendance to see a number of the Arsenal youngsters put on a show, as well as witness Alexandre Lacazette’s first goal for the club.

Just as there were stand-out performers, there were a few who didn’t have the best game and won’t have convinced Arsene Wenger to play them more.

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sydney fcs player charles lokolingoy fights for the ball with sead picture

Arsenal’s new big Bosnian bruiser was real presence on the pitch and put in a strong performance as the left sided centre back. Bar one occasion where he misjudged the flight of the ball and missed an important header, he had a strong debut, and was good on the ball.