Authors of a very good performance at the Emirates Stadium, where they even led against the Gunners for a time, the Rouge et Blanc drew against the vice-champions of England in regular time (1-1), before losing an anecdotal penalty shootout.
It was an impressive performance! At the end of a very good game between Arsenal and AS Monaco in the Emirates Cup, the teammates of Youssouf Fofana, who scored, obtained a draw (1-1), before the Gunners won the penalty shootout (5-4). At the start of this seventh preseason match, Adi Hütter again decided to play a 3-4-2-1. The Magassa-Maripán-Matsima defence thus started behind the familiar duo of Fofana Camara duo, together for the first time this preseason.
Golo has an early chance…
If the Gunners put their foot on the ball from the start, it was Aleksandr Golovin who had the first shot on target of the match, blocked by Aaron Ramsdale (8′). Buoyed by the 60,000 spectators present at the Emirates, Gabriel Martinelli then got forward, but his effort was blocked Philipp Köhn, who was sharp off his line (13′). The Tsar then had a good off-centre free kick, but it is was blocked by the London side’s wall (26′).
…before Fofana’s headed shot!
Finally, it is the midfield pairing that will make the difference, since on a nice bit of skill from Mo ‘Camara, Youssouf Fofana opened the score with a header (0-1, 31′). Mikel Arteta’s side attempt to respond from a corner. Tomiyasu’s first attempt was perfectly blocked by the Monegasque goalkeeper, who tipped it over his crossbar (42′). Unfortunately on the next corner kick, Eddie Nketiah was found at the far post by Gabriel Martinelli to level the score just before halftime (1-1, 44′).
Captain’ Wiss hits the post
It was a poor reward for the Rouge et Blanc, who had impressed in their duels. They were also very close to regaining the advantage on the return from the locker room. First of all came a whipped cross from Caio Henrique that Wissam Ben Yedder put off the post (49′). Then came a volley from the Tsar on a perfect cross from Takumi Minamino (50′). The reply came immediately from Martinelli, but he failed to put his effort on target (52′).
A Philipp Köhn masterclass
The rhythm was a bit crazy from both sides, until changes were made on the hour mark. A few minutes later, Leandro Trossard found himself one-on-one against Philipp Köhn, on a fine pass from Jorginho, but the Swiss goalkeeper remained strong (72′). Shortly thereafter, Youssouf Fofana tried his hand from the edge of the area (75′). Things were going at 100 miles per hour again and Fabio Vieira would then see the Monegasque ‘keeper divert his volley (79’).
The match ended in a draw, before the two teams finished with an anecdotal penalty shootout, which Arsenal would finally win (5-4). The next (and last) pre-season test for our Monegasques is next Monday against Bayern Munich (5 p.m.).
Source: www.asmonaco.com