Indonesia Dream Team 0-7 Arsenal (Asia Tour) – Report

Arsenal kicked off their 2013 pre-season tour of Asia in style as they comfortably beat the Indonesia Dream Team 7-0 in Jakarta.

The crowd turned out in large numbers to see their heroes and cheer them on to a comfortable victory.

Teenager Chuba Akpom scuffed a shot wide after just 32 seconds and had a great chance in the 7th minute too that went wasted. Captain Mikel Arteta had an effort blocked too as the visitors dominated early proceedings.

The hosts gave Arsenal a couple of scares, but the Gunners finally took the lead in the 19th minute when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain burst clear on the right, before tricking his way past a defender to lay it back for Theo Walcott to do the honours.

Full-backs Carl Jenkinson and Kieran Gibbs had chances before the end of the half. Jenkinson nearly connected with a Walcott cross and Gibbs hit the side netting.

At half time, Arsene Wenger made a host of changes, as expected with any pre-season game. Laurent Koscielny came on as captain in the second half, along with youngsters Thomas Eisfeld, Chuks Aneke, Kris Olsson and Gedion Zelalem.

Two youngsters played big parts in Arsenal’s second goal, with Serge Gnabry setting up Chuba Akpom to comfortably tap in.

Wenger then sent some big names on to please the crowd. Olivier Giroud, Lukas Podolski, Bacary Sagna and Tomas Rosicky all came on with just over 20 minutes left as well as youngster Damian Martinez.

Substitutes Sagna and Giroud combined when the right-back squared the ball to Giroud to score from close range.

Giroud was on the scoresheet again just a few minutes later, smashing the ball in off the crossbar on the turn.

Fellow substitute Podolski got in on the act in the 83rd minute, before youngsters Eisfeld and Olsson completed the rout near the end.

A comfortable win for Arsenal in their first game of pre-season then. Arsenal ended the evening with a presentation and a lap of honour for their fabulous supporters. The next stop for Arsenal on their Asia Tour is Vietnam, where they will become the first ever Premier League club to play a game in the country.

Theo Walcott was on the scoresheet for Arsenal today in Indonesia.