Arsenal starts pre-season with a LOSS : Hibernian 2-1 Arsenal
July 14, 2021
Arsenal suffered a 2-1 defeat to Hibernian; goals from Martin Boyle and Daniel Mackay gave hosts advantage; Nicolas Pepe had late penalty saved before Emile Smith Rowe grabbed late consolation;
Arsenal’s pre-season continues at Rangers on Saturday; Hibs face Raith Rovers on Friday
The Gunners, who included Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Willian, Eddie Nketiah and Ainsley Maitland-Niles in their starting line-up, were behind in the 21st minute as Martin Boyle pounced on goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo’s error to hand Hibs the lead.
Half-time substitutes Nicolas Pepe and Thomas Partey both went close to an equaliser in the early stages of the second half, but Hibs capitalised on more defensive frailties from Arsenal as Daniel Mackay added a second.
Arsenal spurned a late opportunity as Kevin Dabrowski brilliantly kept out Pepe’s penalty, but the Gunners did eventually get their goal as Emile Smith Rowe turned home Hector Bellerin’s cross.
However, it wasn’t enough to stop defeat as Hibernian held on for victory in what was a much-needed workout for Mikel Arteta’s side.
Arsenal’s pre-season continues on Saturday when they face Scottish champions Rangers (kick off 2pm), while Hibernian are back in action on Friday at Raith Rovers (kick-off 7pm).
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said after the game: “Well I’m always disappointed when we lose a football match but it is the first game, we played with many kids and we only had four training sessions. We’ve trained really hard and you could see that the players were a little bit leggy.
“I think we conceded the first goal, an accident, and the second goal was clearly offside. We created many, many chances but we didn’t score. That’s what pre-season is for, to take the things that we haven’t done well into a training session and then improve.
On whether the lack of training so far explains the performance, Arteta added: “It does but there’s no excuse because we want to come here and win the match.
“They worked really hard, the boys worked really hard and you could see that some of them were not in the best condition, but we’re still very early in pre-season. It was great to see some of the young lads making their debuts here. We’ll keep working.”
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