Arsenal and Manchester City met in Gothenburg on Sunday night, in the two sides’ last game before the start of the Premier League season.
The Gunners started well, but it was City who would open the scoring, via Sergio Aguero. However, goals from Alex Iwobi, Theo Walcott and Chuba Akpom would ultimately win it for the north Londoners, despite a late strike from Kelechi Iheanacho.
The goal of the game came courtesy of the much-maligned Walcott, who started and finished a fine move involving Alexis Sanchez…
Walcott’s goalpic.twitter.com/z84hlztJJW
— IDontLikeSpurs (@IDontLikeSpurs) August 7, 2016
However, the shine was taken off the Gunners’ victory with a serious injury to Gabriel late on. The Brazilian was stretchered off left in tears after damaging his ankle…
Gabriel’s injury.I hope is not bad pic.twitter.com/jf3xxDi25U
— Arsenal religion (@Dominic777775) August 7, 2016
Ancak Gabriel’in son saniyelerde yaşadığı sakatlık maçın tamamen önüne geçti. Duyduğu acı durumun ciddiyetine işaretpic.twitter.com/BZPwfCKG98
— Genç Arsenal (@gencarsenal) August 7, 2016
The injury to Gabriel comes at a particularly bad time for Arsene Wenger, with Per Mertesacker out of action for a number of months and Laurent Koscielny given extra time off after Euro 2016.
With just Calum Chambers and Rob Holding now available for the Premier League opener against Liverpool, the Arsenal boss may be forced into the transfer market for a new centre-half. Or, he may turn to left-back Nacho Monreal again to fill the void.
As for Walcott, could this be the season that the 27-year-old finally delivers on a regular basis? No doubt most Arsenal fans will say no! Although one young fan did show his appreciation for the Arsenal attacker, running onto the pitch and grabbing a cheeky selfie…
The game also saw Pep Guardiola start with Aleksandar Kolarov and Fernandinho in the central-defensive positions, with mixed results. However, it’s doubtful this pairing will line out in City’s big games this season.
Let’s hope Gabriel’s injury isn’t as bad as it looks.