Arsenal 6 Lyon 0



In the second game of the Emirates Cup Arsenal took on Lyon. The French club came second in the league last year and ran PSG close, it could be argued that they are further behind in their preseason preparations, but Arsenal really handed them a lesson in football. Apart from trying to sure up a leaky defence by signing Petr Cech as their new number 1, the Gunners have been pretty quiet in the transfer market. A lot of people thought that they would be trying to strengthen at the back, but yesterday's performance would suggest that they think attack is the best form of defending.

Arsenal were firing and attacking from the start with Oxlade Chamberlain tearing down the right wing in an attempt to secure a starting place in the team. Looking back it seems surprising that it took them 30 minutes to open the scoring.

The first goal came on the half hour mark when Oliver Giroud headed/ shouldered/ cheeked the ball into the back of the goal with after Oxlade Chamberlain crossed. Five minutes later and the Ox scored one for himself to double the lead.

Arsenal were now in a ramp and mood and just two minutes later Arsenal youngster Alex Iwobi made it 3-0 when he connected with the ball at the far post. Just two minutes later and Aaron Ramsey had scored another well taken goal to make it 4-0.


Lyon were left reeling by 4 goals in 9 minutes, and must have been glad that Arsenal didn't punish them again in the last 7 minutes of the half.

Arsenal started to take things a little more calmly in the second half, but the young players like Iwobi, Akpom and even the Ox were still trying to impress. However, it was Mehmut Ozil, who also has a bit of a point to prove who got the 5th on 62 minutes.

Shortly after this Arsenal introduced wholesale changes and they lost their rhythm a bit, much to Lyon's relief. However, it always felt like Arsenal would get one more and with one of those substitutes being Santi Cazorla there was a slight feeling of inevitability. With five minutes left he was given the opportunity  when Arsenal were awarded a free kick in shooting distance. The wall jumped as they expected him to try curling it into the top corner, but he squeezed it under the jump and the rout was complete at 6-0.

It was a really impressive performance by the Gunners, but only time will tell if it is going to be their season as we were almost, but not quite as impressed with them when they destroyed Benfica in the competition last year.

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