Arsenal maintained their 100% record in pre-season when they claimed a 3-1 victory against MLS outfit Orlando City on Thursday.
Facundo Torres cancelled out Gabriel Martinelli’s opener on the half-hour mark, but the Gunners responded in the second half with strikes from Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson sealing victory for Mikel Arteta’s side in Florida.
The Gunners began their pre-season with a 5-1 win over Ipswich Town and an entertaining 5-3 victory over Nuremburg in Germany earlier this month, before securing a 2-0 success against Everton in Maryland last weekend.
Summer signing Gabriel Jesus did not feature against Ipswich but has since scored three goals in as many games for the club, including a brace on his non-competitive debut against Nuremburg.
A London derby against Chelsea is next on the agenda for Arsenal, who have won four of their last six meetings with the Blues across all competitions.
The Gunners will finish their pre-season with an Emirates Cup clash against Sevilla next Saturday, before kicking off the Premier League season away against Crystal Palace on August 5.
SA international Christian Pulisicopened the scoring for the Blues on the half-hour mark and they were seemingly on course to secure a slender win, before substitute Daniel Rios scored a dramatic 92nd-minute equaliser for the hosts from the penalty spot after a foul conceded by Trevoh Chalobah.
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In the shootout, a tame effort from 12 yards by Conor Gallagher was comfortably saved by George Marks and proved costly, with Charlotte converting all five of their spot kicks to come out on top against their Premier League counterparts.
After facing Arsenal on Sunday, Thomas Tuchel’s side will travel to Italy to face Serie A outfit Udinese in their final warm-up fixture on July 29, before beginning the 2022-23 campaign with a Premier League visit to Frank Lampard’s Everton on August 6.
After a slow start to the summer transfer window, Tuchel has been able to bolster his squad with the arrivals of Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly, and further additions are set to be made by the Blues before the end of the window, with centre-back Jules Kounde believed to be their top target at present.
