Reiss Nelson poaches Arsenal’s leveller in 1-1 draw at Angers as Emery’s defence struggle without Laurent Koscielny and Hector Bellerin
ARSENAL’S dodgy defence continues to give Unai Emery plenty of cause for concern with the big kick-off less than two weeks away.
With skipper Laurent Koscielny still on strike and Hector Bellerin and Rob Holding both recovering from long-term knee injuries, the Gunners remain an accident waiting to happen at the back.
And while the imminent arrival of £72million Nicolas Pepe has electrified the supporters, they are not so happy with the club’s failure to shore things up at the other end of the pitch, amplified by this 1-1 draw before which the Gunners won a penalty shootout 4-s.
They are still trying to negotiate a £25milion deal for Celtic left-back Kieran Tierney, but even he is recovering from a hernia operation and won’t be fit for the start of the Premier League season.
And the way his team were constantly opened up by French minnows Angers this evening can only have strengthened Emery’s resolve to get in at least one more central defender.
With Alexandre Lacazette nursing a sprained ankle and both Mesut Ozil and Sead Kolasinac still recovering from last week’s attempted car-jacking, this was as low-key a team as Emery could have fielded.
Yet there was a surprising lack of intensity from the Arsenal kids who are supposed to be pressing for promotion to the senior squad.
Only Matteo Guendouzi looked as though he was really up for this one as Angers were allowed to control the play for much of the first-half.
So it was no surprise when the home team took a 13th minute lead when Farid El Malali was allowed to get in behind Zech Medley before dribbling around stranded keeper Emiliano Martinez.
Arsenal’s were undone again by a clever free-kick routine shortly before half-time when Mateo Pavlovic headed in from close range but he had strayed marginally offside before applying the finishing touch.
Reiss Nelson squandered the visitors’ only real chance of the first 45 minutes when he fired tamely wide after the ball broke to him on the edge of the area.
That was enough for Emery, who sent on five half-time subs including Granit Xhaka, Sokratis and Ainsley Maitland-Niles to inject a bit of urgency into the game.
And the changes had an almost instant effect when Nelson turned in Guendouzi’s 49th minute cross to level the scores after Eddie Nketiah’s initial shot had been blocked.
Yet it was only when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was introduced on the hour that Arsenal really started to threaten, with the £60million striker missing three gilt-edged opportunities to win it for the Gunners late on.
Instead it went to a penalty shoot-out, with Arsenal winning despite Henrikh Mkhitaryan blazing his spot-kick over the bar before Martinez saved from former Gunner Jeff Reine-Adelaide.