Nurnberg 1-1 Arsenal: Bukayo Saka’s venomous effort cancelled out by goalkeeping blunder
Arsenal were held to a disappointing 1–1 draw against German second division side FC Nurnberg in the first game of their pre-season campaign.
The Gunners returned to action in perhaps not the start Mikel Arteta would have wanted after the difficult end to last year’s Premier League campaign. Despite being much stronger throughout the match, the London side were careless in possession, most notably giving the ball away for Nurnberg’s equaliser.
In any case, Arsenal fans will be relieved to see the return of defender William Saliba, his first appearance since he suffered a back injury that has sidelined him since March.
Following his £65 million move from Chelsea, newcomer Kai Havertz made his debut in a red shirt, coming on for Reiss Nelson in the second half, and although he didn’t get on the scoresheet, he looked comfortable in the Arsenal system.
Returning to where he left off last season, Bukayo Saka scored a signature goal reminiscent of his goal against Manchester United in the Gunners’ dramatic 3-2 victory at the Emirates in January.
The striker picked up the ball on the edge of the box and turned to his left foot before unleashing a venomous but accurate shot into the bottom left corner of the goal.
Worrying for the Arsenal bench, Saka took a nasty fall during the first half and appeared to be uneasy, landing on his lower back. He was able to continue, but it certainly looked painful for the winger, who lay on the ground with his lower back clamped.
Saliba, meanwhile, managed 46 minutes and looked very stable on his return, helping the Gunners build up nicely from behind and looking solid on defense.
Ben White was another who impressed in the first half, running up and down the right wing to keep Nurnberg on his toes. He played some smart balls in the penalty area, but Cristian Fiel’s team handled it well.
Leandro Trossard and Reiss Nelson made nice top changes as well, and both caused problems for the opposition defense in the opening changes.
At half-time, both sides made several changes, with Aaron Ramsdale making way for Karl Hein, while Gabriel would replace Jesus Saka and Thomas Partey would also make way for Jorginho.
After a slow start to the second half, Jesus had the first chance for the gunners, who fled in acres of space from the Nuremberg defenders to go one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but his shot went wide of goal.
It wouldn’t be the first chance the Gunners would miss, as Folarin Balogun hit the post soon after.
But in bizarre circumstances, Arsenal allowed Nurnberg to equalize through an avoidable mistake. As Hein collected the ball outside his penalty area, he passed the ball directly to Kanji Okunuki who, in a challenge with an Arsenal defender, managed to force the Gunners player to shoot the ball past the goalkeeper for an own goal.
The goal certainly gave the German team a bit more energy and moved up the field to launch several attacks later on, with Arsenal holding out several times.
Mats Daehli’s chance came perhaps the closest, with a booming strike from over 30 yards on the Gunners’ goal. Hein was ready to parry the ball away, but bounced the ball back to a group of approaching Nurnberg forwards, who took the opportunity and hit their rebound onto the crossbar, with Arsenal narrowly surviving the fright.
The Gunners were careless in possession towards the end of the game and gave the ball away to the German side several times, with the German second division side putting pressure on the Gunners and breaking into the penalty area again before Jens Castrop hit his ball over the goal line. bar.
Folarin Balogun could have made it 2-1 in the final fire of the match, breaking through Nuremberg’s defence, before rounding the goalkeeper, doing the hard work before missing a clear chance and firing his shot into the side netting.
Arsenal’s next pre-season fixture is next Thursday against the MLS All Stars before taking on Manchester United and Barcelona before the end of July.