A well-deserved victory over Chelsea was the ideal way to round off a fruitful preseason trip to the United States.
Gabriel Jesus scored his fourth goal of the preseason to give us the early lead in this Florida Cup match as we sought to seize control.
After the break, Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka both scored a goal, and Sambi Lokonga added a late fourth to give us a score that was appropriate for our performance.
Playing the third and final game of the tour, we looked sharp from the off, creating the first clear chance after just five minutes.
Defending a corner, Gabriel Martinelli nicked the ball on the edge of his own box and sprinted forward on the counter-attack, in a move very reminiscent of his famous goal at Stamford Bridge in January 2020.
This time however he elected to pass to Saka on the overlap and his shot was saved by Edouard Mendy.
We continued to look at the more likely scorers in the opening exchanges. Oleksandr Zinchenko – on his first appearance for us – was getting forward well on the left and had a shot charged down when he found space inside the box.
Shortly afterward though we did get the goal our pressure merited, and what a finish it was. Granit Xhaka fired a first-time pass into the path of Jesus, who advanced on the keeper and casually dinked the ball over him for the opener.
The second was another well-worked goal. Martinelli held onto possession just long enough for Odegaard to make his run into the box, before slipping the ball into his path. The captain did the rest, sliding his shot low into the corner.
It was one-way traffic in the first half. Thomas Party was the next to go close, shooting just over from 20 yards out.
Odegaard, Saka, and Jesus were beginning to enjoy themselves, with some wonderful one-touch passing and flicks – much to the delight of the vocal Arsenal support in the sell-out 63,000 capacity Camping World Stadium in Florida – a new attendance record for the venue.
Despite our dominance in the opening 45 minutes, Chelsea so nearly pulled one back before the break, but Mason Mount’s effort struck the upright.
We kept up the tempo in the second half, and shortly after the hour mark, we made it 3-0.
Martinelli drew a diving stop from Mendy on the volley, it fell to Granit Xhaka who flicked the ball up before firing another shot at the Chelsea keeper. But it was third time lucky as Saka thumped home the rebound into the roof of the net.
Marquinhos was substituted for Sambi Lokonga in the waning minutes, and he made his non-competitive debut on the right wing. Sambi Lokonga‘s calm header at the far post helped us secure the victory.
After the final horn, we were given the Florida Cup, capping off a spectacular 10-day trip to America.
