Arsenal finished off its preseason tour of the United States with a decisive 4-0 win over Premier League foe Chelsea to capture the Florida Cup in front of a record 63,811 fans at Camping World Stadium in Orlando on Saturday night.
The positive result marked a third victory in as many encounters for Mikel Arteta’s Gunners, who defeated Everton (2-0) and MLS side Orlando City FC (3-1) in their first two contests of a ten-day 2022 summer excursion to the States.
Arsenal was in command from the start of the final FC Series encounter, with recent signing Gabriel Jesus opening the scoring with a deft chip over Chelsea keeper Edouard Mendy in the 15th minute.
Keeping the pressure on Chelsea for much of the first half, the Gunners doubled the advantage ten minutes before the intermission thanks to a sweeping finish from Martin Odegaard after receiving a neat pass in the box from Gabriel Martinelli.
16th-minute chip over Chelsea keeper Edouard Mendy.
Chelsea nearly pulled one back when Mason Mount’s strike hit the post in first-half stoppage time. And the Blues looked more lively at the start of the second half, before a third goal from Arsenal put the game away in the 65th minute.
The move began with a driving run by Bukayo Saka and an exchange of passes found Martinelli, whose drive drew a fine save by Mendy. Granit Xhaka collected the ball and saw his effort parried as well, before Saka reacted well to bang in the rebound.
With the outcome settled, both sides substituted several players in the closing half-hour on a humid night at a sold-out stadium that represented the largest crowd ever to see a soccer match in central Florida.
One of those subs, Arsenal midfielder Sambi Lokonga, capped the comfortable win by heading home a Cedric Soares cross in stoppage time. Minutes later, the Gunners were presented with the Florida Cup trophy to mark the victory over their London rivals.
“There are a lot of positives to take from the game. The way we played, the intensity we showed, the way we were trying to show who we are as a team,” noted Gunners manager Arteta in his post-match comments on the club’s official web site. “But at the same time, it’s just a test match. Don’t get carried away.”
One of the positives, according to Arteta, was the debut performance of Oleksandr Zinchenko, who played the first half at left back for the Gunners after his signing from Manchester City was officially announced a day earlier.
that witnessed Orlando City play New York City FC in the MLS club
opener on March 8, 2015; 62,387 fans saw Netherlands
play Belgium in the group stage of the World Cup
on June 25,1994.
“He was desperate to play and I knew that. It was a maximum 45 minutes but you could see straight away he was comfortable,” Arteta told arsenal.com. “He understands everything that I want, he understands the process and I thought he had a really good game.”
The manager added that “there are still a lot of things that we have to get better at, and do better. But I think it’s good to get some momentum, finish the tour in the right way, give some enjoyment to our fans and everybody that’s been contributing to make this tour happen. Now it’s time to go back to London, to focus and keep making improvements and steps forwards.”
Arsenal heads back to England for another week of pre-season training before playing in the Emirates Cup against Sevilla on July 30. The match is the Gunners’ final friendly before the Premier League campaign begins on Friday, August 5, away to Crystal Palace.