Arsenal comfortably retained the Emirates Cup title for the third year running thanks to a 2-0 victory over Lyon in North London, winning the competition for the eighth time since its inception.
The 13th edition of the friendly summer tournament pitted the Premier League bridesmaids against a Lyon side who had enjoyed an astonishing revival under Pierre Sage last season, but with ex-Gunners striker Alexandre Lacazette absent due to his Olympics commitments, Les Gones were outfought from the off.
Mikel Arteta’s side were all over their French counterparts like a rash and deservedly took a two-goal lead into the break thanks to a pair of headers from central defenders William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes, both assisted by brilliant Declan Rice corners.
A low-key second 45 – where Riccardo Calafiori came on for his unofficial debut – was expected to be followed by an inconsequential penalty shootout, but in an unforeseen and confusing turn of events, the two teams did not take to the 12-yard mark.
While that late farce was a minor blot on the notebook, Arsenal were at their scintillating best in the first half, although the second 45 showed that their ruthlessness could do with touching up before the new Premier League campaign begins.
Throughout the 2023-24 season, Arsenal set-piece coach Nicolas Jover achieved hero status among Gooners, who witnessed dead-ball situation after dead-ball situation lead to a goal during their goal-happy phase.
The set-piece goals dried up a little bit towards the end of the campaign, but with Rice back on corner duty once more, the Gunners’ penalty-box prowess proved too potent for Lyon to handle on two occasions in the first half.
The England international’s first delivery was on the money for Saliba to nod home, before another looping delivery to the back stick picked out the run of Gabriel, who had an empty net to head into.
The Brazilian was helped by Lyon goalkeeper Lucas Perri coming out to meet Rice’s corner and getting nowhere near the ball, but Arsenal and Jover are working their set-piece magic once more, thanks in no small part to arguably the best centre-back partnership on the planet right now.
As the friendly entered its dying embers, Arsenal were still probing for goal number three while not giving goalkeeper David Raya anything to think about, but the Spaniard was unexpectedly called into action late on.
After Lyon survived another Arsenal set-piece, goalkeeper Perri launched the ball upfield with a gargantuan throw, which Jorginho tried to stop in its tracks with an unorthodox flying interception, but he only succeeded in prodding the ball through to Ernest Nuamah.
However, the Lyon attacker could not get the better of Raya, who made himself big and turned the ball behind in his first match at the Emirates since his loan from Brentford was converted into a permanent agreement.
Just past the hour mark on Sunday, Arteta took off Oleksandr Zinchenko – who had performed well – for the new boy Riccardo Calafiori, who started out on the left-hand side of the backline.
The Italy international got stuck into the action straight away, with shades of his assist for Mattia Zaccagni in the Azzurri’s Euro 2024 draw with Croatia, charging forward and selling Gabriel Martinelli slightly short before clattering into a Lyon shirt and briefly winning the ball back.
Calafiori shifted to a central role once Saliba was brought off and the young Myles Lewis-Skelly filled the void at left-back, and he earned a round of applause from the home crowd in the 82nd minute, stepping in to quickly snuff out a Lyon attack.
The Italian only touched the ball 18 times in total while completing seven of his eight passes in a relatively trouble-free debut, although much tougher tests are to come.
With no more tune-up games on the menu, it is now all systems go for Arsenal regarding their Premier League preparations, as the Gunners prepare to host Wolverhampton Wanderers in their opening top-flight contest next Saturday.
While Arteta and his players focus on their on-field work, sporting director Edu could be trying to thrash out an agreement for Real Sociedad midfielder Mikel Merino, and it would not be surprising to see home-grown exits in the shape of Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, Lyon have a week to prepare for their inaugural Ligue 1 game of the 2024-25 season – an intriguing trip to Rennes – although they will seemingly have to continue coping without Lacazette for the next couple of weeks as he recovers from leading France to an Olympic silver medal.
