Emile Smith Rowe and Gabriel Jesus are among the goals as Arsenal comfortably defeat Leyton Orient 2-0 in a behind-closed-doors friendly.
Arsenal kicked off their pre-season preparations with a routine 2-0 victory over Leyton Orient in a behind-closed-doors friendly at their London Colney training base.
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta used 22 different players for the encounter, where the North London giants were missing a wealth of internationals to have competed at Euro 2024 and the Copa America.
However, the likes of Gabriel Jesus, Martin Odegaard, Ben White and Thomas Partey were all named in the starting lineup, and the former opened the scoring before half time thanks to an assist from Eddie Nketiah.
Arteta subsequently made a raft of alterations at half time, including the introduction of Smith Rowe, whom Jesus turned provider for to fire in a second of the afternoon just after the break.
The English midfielder’s strike at London Colney come at a time where speculation over his future is ramping up, as Fulham have reportedly seen a bid rejected by Arsenal, while Crystal Palace are also readying an approach.
The Gunners lined up in a 4-3-3 for the weekend’s encounter, where Jurrien Timber and Ayden Heaven partnered up in the heart of defence, while the young Myles Lewis-Skelly featured as a left-back.
Karl Hein began in goal before being swapped out for new academy signing Lucas Nygaard, while Charlie Patino and Ethan Nwaneri were also among Arsenal’s second-half changes.
Arteta’s side now prepare to travel to the USA for their pre-season tour, where they will take on Bournemouth, Manchester United and Liverpool, starting with a clash against the Cherries on Thursday at 3.30am UK time.