Arsenal 4 – 1 Bayer 04 Leverkusen – Match Report

Our first sport again at Emirates Stadium in 2024/25 was one to recollect as we recorded a powerful win over Bayer Leverkusen.

Oleksandr Zinchenko and Leandro Trossard netted throughout the opening eight minutes with a pair of superb objectives, earlier than Gabriel Jesus ran 40 yards to dispatch our third towards the German Invincibles on 38 minutes.

Kai Havertz then added a fourth halfway by means of the second half, and regardless of Adam Hlozek pulling one again, Mikel Arteta would have been delighted with the consequence, ruthlessness in entrance of aim and having the ability to hand first minutes of pre-season to David Raya, William Saliba, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice.

Sensational begin

We burst out of the traps enjoying some scintillating soccer, and located ourselves two objectives forward after eight minutes due to a pair of brilliantly-worked strikes.

The primary celebrations inside Emirates Stadium got here when Zinchenko discovered Havertz down the left flank and burst in the direction of the field. After the German’s cutback was dummied by Trossard, our new quantity 17 was rewarded for his vitality by drilling an inch-perfect shot into the underside nook.

Then 60 seconds later, Leverkusen tried to play out from the again, and their looseness was punished when Trossard gained again possession on the sting of the field. That instigated some intricate one-touch passing between Martin Odegaard, Jesus and Havertz which bamboozled the defence, permitting Trossard to trick his well beyond a sliding Piero Hincapie and coolly tuck previous Matej Kovar.

Gabby’s solo strike

We bossed the opening 45 and Trossard almost grabbed a second when he was given an excessive amount of time to progress with the ball and discover himself 20 yards out, so he let fly and Kovar did nicely to push the ball away for a nook, however whereas our first two objectives have been nice group efforts, particular person brilliance paved the way in which for our third.

Eight minutes earlier than the break, a unfastened throw-in from Odilon Kossounou on a uncommon Leverkusen assault noticed Jesus seize possession 10 yards inside his personal half, and he galloped ahead. Allowed to proceed his run, he bought to the sting of the D and hammered a low effort previous Kovar to register his second strike of pre-season.

Targets galore

With a wholesome lead within the financial institution, Mikel opted to make 4 adjustments on the break together with introducing Saka and Rice, and within the 66th minute the previous made his first impression of the summer season to assist create our fourth.

Ethan Nwaneri fed the England winger who burst to the byline in typical fashion and centred, and with hesitation rampant contained in the opposition field, Granit Xhaka merely prodded it straight to Havertz to rapidly snatch up the chance to attain in successive friendlies.

Nevertheless Raya wouldn’t mark his first look of the marketing campaign with a clear sheet as Xavi Alonso’s group pulled one again on 75 minutes. Former Gunners junior Nathan Tella was picked out on the appropriate flank and he discovered Hlozek who when confronted one-on-one with our Euro 2024 winner neatly clipped the ball previous him into the web.

It wasn’t the return to north London Xhaka had wished for however he acquired heat applause from the house supporters when he was changed late on, however the largest raptures got here at full-time as 60,000 Gooners cheered their aspect off the pitch, and left the bottom with a spring of their step and much more pleasure for the marketing campaign to return.
 

Up subsequent

Our pre-season marketing campaign involves an in depth once we host Lyon within the Emirates Cup on Sunday in a 2pm kick-off. Six days later, the Premier League marketing campaign will get underway when Wolves head to north London for a 3pm begin on Saturday, August 17.