adminLONDON. — Arsenal fell to a 3-2 defeat against Aston Villa in a pre-season friendly on Saturday.
The game, which took place at Emirates Stadium, saw both teams use the contest to give a mixture of first-team and youth players a chance to get some minutes.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was on target twice for the Gunners, with one of the goals coming from the penalty spot.
But the Gabon international’s double was not enough to give Mikel Arteta’s side the win, as the visitors struck three times to come out on top.
The defeat will be no major concern to Arteta, who was missing several key men due to international duty. The Spaniard used the game to try out a few things, as he did on Tuesday when Arsenal beat Queens Park Rangers 4-3 in a behind-closed-doors friendly at the club’s London Colney training ground.
Mesut Ozil, who did not play a single minute for Arsenal during the final weeks of last season following the restart, was back involved against Villa, as was summer signing Willian.
Arsenal are planning to have one last friendly in midweek ahead of next Saturday’s Premier League opener against Fulham at Craven Cottage.
Against Villa they fell behind in the first half when Douglas Luiz opened the scoring for the visitors, only for Aubameyang to level things up before half-time.
Arsenal fell behind again when Jacob Ramsey restored Villa’s lead, but they made it 2-2 when Aubameyang scored his second of the afternoon from the penalty spot.
Villa sealed the win soon after, however, with Ramsey again the man on target for Dean Smith’s side. — Dailycannon.
Online Reporter