Arsenal ended their pre-season campaign on a high with a 2-0 win over Lyon in the Emirates Cup.
The Gunners went into the game as favourites and they managed to seal a comfortable victory.
William Saliba opened the scoring from a Declan Rice corner in the ninth minute. Rice provided yet another assist for Gabriel Magalhaes’ headed goal in the 27th minute.
The London giants could not extend the advantage after the break, but they had a solid outing with Les Gones managing only two shots on target at the Emirates Stadium.
Saliba was named the club’s man of the match after the friendly and in our view, he was the stand-out performer. The Frenchman had a passing accuracy of 93 percent.
The 23-year-old also won 100 percent of his ground and aerial duels with three clearances.
The Saint-Etienne graduate has formed a terrific central defensive partnership alongside Gabriel Magalhaes. The duo were unscathed throughout the 2023/24 season.
If they manage to replicate the same, there is a strong chance that Arsenal will be in the running for the Premier League title. They will be hoping to go all the way this time.
Saliba, Gabriel and Ben White seem assured starters in the back four at the moment and the question remains who will start on the left side of the defence for the Gunners.
Oleksandr Zinchenko was disappointing earlier this year, but the Ukrainian star has had a good pre-season. He deserves to start against Wolverhampton Wanderers next weekend.
Riccardo Calafiori has been brought to compete for the left-back role. The Italian will be aiming to pounce on any shortcomings of the 27-year-old in the near future.
