Gabriel Jesus scored 90 seconds in his first Arsenal outing as his double helped the Gunners to a 5-3 comeback win over German second division FC Nurnberg.
The Brazilian striker, who completed a £45million transfer from Manchester City earlier in this summer’s transfer window, came 2-0 down to the Gunners at halftime in Germany – and made an immediate impact by scoring high in the net. Ainsley Maitland – Niles’ pass.
Mohammed Elneny then hit a wonder strike to equalize for Mikel Arteta’s side, before two Nuremburg own goals from Christpher Schindler and Tim Handwerker gave the Gunners a 4-2 lead.
Nicolas Pepe in action for Arsenal
Jesus then made Gabriel Martinelli’s cross at the front with 15 minutes to go to add a fifth for Arsenal, just after Lukas Schleimer pulled one back for the German side.
Arteta called a strong starting line-up for this pre-season outing, with Emile Smith Rowe, Nicolas Pepe and Kieran Tierney among the starters – but their warm-up turned out to be a disaster.
Johannes Geis and Kwadwo Duah scored past new Arsenal goalkeeper Matt Turner in five minutes of the first half to stun the Premier League side.
Arsenal are likely to welcome their international players – including Bukayo Saka, Aaron Ramsdale and Martin Odegaard – to their tour of the United States next week.
Arteta: No problems with Tierney
During Arsenal’s victory in Germany, left-back Tierney lasted just 30 minutes before being replaced by Cedric Soares.
The Scotland international missed the end of last season with a knee injury and there were concerns that he might have suffered another injury after the early substitution, but Arteta confirmed this was all part of the pre-planned plan.
“He’s really good,” said Arteta. “He’s been training really well. Obviously he’s been out for over three months now, so we wanted to give him a good warm-up, play the first half hour and then take him out.
“So it was in good shape and there are no problems.”
West Ham beat Swiss side Servette | N Forest lose to Coventry
David Moyes’ West Ham kicked off their own season campaign with a 2-0 win against Swiss Servette.
Moyes named a strong lineup for the first friendly of the summer – with Kurt Zouma, Issa Diop, Michail Antonio and Said Benrahma getting crucial minutes.
The Hammers took the lead when Manuel Lanzini’s free kick wreaked havoc at the back of the hosts, allowing young Ali Ajese to tap the ball into an empty net while the goalkeeper was nowhere to be seen.
Moyes made six substitutions at halftime and one of them – Divin Mabumba – added a second for the East Londoners after hitting home on the rebound after Benrahma’s shot was saved in his path.
Servette did cause some trouble for the Hammers, hitting the woodwork twice – on either side of half time – but the Hammers went on to win after scoring their second.
Meanwhile, newly promoted Nottingham Forest lose their first pre-season game since becoming a Premier League club, with Coventry winning 3-1 in Spain.
The Championship club came from a 3-1 deficit thanks to goals from Matty Godden and a brace from Tyler Walker.
A slightly positive point for Steve Cooper was a debut goal for Guilian Biancone, with the defender signing a three-year deal at the City Ground last week after coming over from Troyes.
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