By Ibrahim Adinoyi Sulaiman
Arsenal on Sunday thrashed Chelsea 4-0 in Orlando to win the Florida Cup.
Strikes from Gabriel Jesus, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Albert Sambi Lokonga sealed a brilliant win for Mikel Arteta’s side to maintain their 100% pre-season record.
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Jesus put his side ahead after 16 minutes with a brilliant chip over Eduoard Mendy, his third goal since signing for the club from Manchester City for £45 million.
Odegaard added a second 10 minutes before the break, with a lovely finish.
Saka made it 3-0 in the 66th minute after Mendy had kept out Gabriel Martinelli and Granit Xhaka.
Lokonga put the icing on the cake late on as he headed in Cedric’s cross.
The defeat left Blues manager, Thomas Tuchel, fuming with his team’s performance.
He said: “I am far from relaxed. We deserved to lose which is fair enough because we were simply not good enough. We were simply not competitive.
“The worrying part is that the level of commitment physically and mentally for this match was far higher for Arsenal than for us. They played I think what is their strongest line-up and structure that you see now for several weeks. This was the line-up they will try to start for Premier League games.”
Meanwhile, Arteta admitted the Gunners should be excited following their win but reminded everyone that it was only a friendly.
He said: “Yes, but it was a friendly match. As you could see there are a lot of positives to take from the game. The way we played, the intensity we showed, the way we were trying to show who we are as a team. But at the same time, it’s just a test match. Don’t get carried away.
It was Arsenal’s fifth friendly of their pre-season so far having won the previous four.
Chelsea were only playing their third pre-season fixture.
