abriel jesus continued his great start to life as a Arsenal player like the confident Gunners maintained their 100 percent pre-season record by inflicting an embarrassing 4-0 defeat to sad Chelsea in orlando.
The Brazilian striker, who became The Gunners’ new No. 9 earlier this month after coming from Manchester City on a £45m deal earlier this month, struck within 15 minutes of Saturday night’s Florida Cup final after being brutally pushed the ball over Edouard Mendy after Chelsea gave the ball away and duly punished by Granit Xhaka.
It was Jesus’ fourth goal in as many summer appearances for his new club, which has blossomed since reuniting with Mikel Arteta in north London.
Dominant Arsenal – who also gave a first start to £32million new signing Oleksandr Zinchenko – were far the better team in a London-wide match, playing in front of a record 63,811 people at the Camping World Stadium and hitting 10 minutes ahead the match again. break, taking advantage of another gift of possession as Xhaka picked Martin Odegaard for a quick snapshot that nestled neatly into the bottom corner.
Chelsea, with Raheem Sterling on the field for the first time and fellow new recruit Kalidou Koulibaly alone on the bench, lost Trevoh Chalobah by knockout in the first half and almost conceded a goal just before half-time, but the fierce attack from Mason Mount, the post rattled and bounced clearly.
Arsenal were by far the more confident side, earning their advantage of two goals at half time as their Premier League rivals struggled with an unknown four, leading to Thomas Tuchel returning to their usual 3-4-3 system after several halves – time changes in personnel.
While such a substitution led to a temporary upturn in fortune, Arsenal extended their lead with 25 minutes to go, mitigating the potentially worrying loss of man of the match Jesus to injury when Bukayo knocked Saka home from close range after two fine stops in quick succession from Mendy to negate both the influential Gabriel Martinelli and Xhaka.
The one-sided defeat was wrapped up deep in stoppage time by Albert Sambi Lokonga, who was somehow left completely unmarked to enter a delightful right cross from Cedric Soares.
Arsenal ended their tour of the US with three wins from as many games and nine goals, while Chelsea won just once after also being beaten by Charlotte FC mid-week on penalties, failing to keep a single nil. with plenty for Tuchel to think about. their Premier League opener at Everton on August 6.
Chelsea travel to Italy to face Udinese on Friday in their last friendly of the season, while Arsenal face Sevilla in the Emirates Cup before the new season starts against Crystal Palace.