Arsenal saw off Al-Nasr Dubai SC with a 3-2 victory in their mid-season friendly, with a number of youngsters given the chance to impress.
Unai Emery gave chances to all the senior players who made the trip to Dubai, but that still left room in the team for a number of academy stars to make rare appearances for the first team.
The combination took a little while to gel though, with Al Nasr taking the lead in the 14th minute. Carl Jenkinson brought things level before half time, before Alexandre Lacazette and debutant Tyreece John-Jules made it 3-1. There was still time for the hosts to pull one back with a 90th-minute penalty, but Arsenal left with the win.
The main thing was to avoid injury and get a good run out, and on that front, the event was a success. Let’s have a look at our player ratings for the match.
Substitutes
Ainsley Maitland-Niles 8
Maitland-Niles continued his good form from the recent Manchester United and Rennes matches with another impressive display. He woke Arsenal up in the second half with his energy and attacking influence, and he also got back well on one or two occasions to help the defence out.
Laurent Koscielny 6
Koscielny didn’t really have too much to do. He did well enough with his limited workload. He was a little lucky his short backpass wasn’t pounced upon.
Petr Cech 6
Cech came out nicely once or twice, calmly chesting the ball to a teammate on one occasion. Unfortunately, his clean sheet was spoiled with a penalty. He’d hardly had a save to make before that.
Dominic Thompson 6
Thompson did a solid job from the bench, looking a little more comfortable than Medley had in the first half.
Julio Pleguezuelo 4
Pleguezuelo made two rash challenges. The first went unpunished, with the referee very kindly choosing not to even give a free-kick, the second resulted in a yellow card and a penalty. Realistically it could have been a second yellow. He did make one good clearing header from a dangerous cross, on the positive side.
Tyreece John-Jules 8
John-Jules showed exactly what he’s about with a lot of good closing down of the defenders and one or two nice moments linking up with teammates. That attitude ended up winning him the ball and putting him through on goal, at which point he took a fake shot, rounded the goalkeeper and finished into a net guarded by two defenders.
Maybe he committed a foul in winning the ball back, but his hard work made sure that was a decision the referee had to make, and the call went his way. After that, it was composed stuff from the 18-year-old.
James Olayinka 7
Olayinka had a positive cameo after a pretty hit and miss season. Jeorge Bird suggested after the game that the midfielder’s game could be boosted by having senior players around him, and that may well be the case. On this occasion, he worked hard and added a bit more creativity to the midfield.
Jordi Osei-Tutu 6
Osei-Tutu pushed forward well but couldn’t quite find the final ball from the right-hand side. Still, a nice brief appearance for the 20-year-old, who will be disappointed his injury problems earlier in the campaign prevented him from getting more chances.