Asia Tour: Nagoya Grampus 1-3 Arsenal

Arsenal beat Nagoya Grampus 3-1 earlier to continue their unbeaten pre-season so far.

Olivier Giroud has been in fine form throughout the pre-season and scored his 6th goal of the Asia Tour in the 3rd minute. Quite an incredible record so far for the Frenchman, who is looking very sharp. The goal wouldn’t have happened if Tomas Rosicky hadn’t have sent in a wonderful cross for Giroud to get his head onto. Giroud had played just 68 minutes of football on the tour and had netted 6 times.

Theo Walcott had a penalty appeal turned down early on and hometown boy Ryo Miyaichi then saw an effort go just inches away.

Bacary Sagna had to be on alert as Joshua Kennedy tried to burst through the Arsenal defence. The Frenchman quickly cleared away the danger.

When Olivier Giroud was brought down in the box in the 26th minute, the referee pointed to the spot. Mikel Arteta picked the ball up and it appeared as though he’d be the one taking the penalty. But the Spaniard handed the ball to Arsenal’s Japanese youngster Ryo Miyaichi, who was playing in his hometown and he confidently put the ball into the back of the net. The goal will have meant a lot to Miyaichi and also to the Japanese fans too.

This friendly was one played in good nature. The fans still love Arsene Wenger in Nagoya and he is very friendly with their manager Dragan Stojkovic, a former player of his from when he was coaching the club in the 1990’s.

Theo Walcott was sent clear by another great Rosicky ball, but shot straight against the legs of the goalkeeper.

Just before the break, Kennedy’s ball presented Yoshizumi Ogawa with a chance, but he scuffed his effort and the chance was wasted.

Kennedy continued to cause problems as he saw a couple of efforts go close as Nagoya showed they were still in the game.

However, the game was effectively over when Gedion Zelalem’s superb ball carved the Nagoya defence open and Theo Walcott dinked the ball over the keeper. The youngster is only 16, but if he continues to impress like this, I think he’ll be playing in the first-team sooner rather than later. I’d expect him to start out in the League Cup like Cesc Fabregas, but eventually make the step up if he is as good as it seems.

With just under 20 minutes left, Nagoya got a consolation goal when substitute Kisho Yano headed home from a fine cross by Hayuma Tanaka.

After the game finished, Arsene Wenger gave a speech to the Japanese crowd that used to call him their manager. Wenger genuinely loved his time out in Japan, so I know this would have meant a lot to him as he has always spoken positively about his time managing over in Japan and the country in general.

Wenger and his players will be staying in Japan for a little while longer, as they look to continue winning on the Asia Tour when they face Urawa Red Diamonds on Friday.

Arsenal got a better test today than they had in Indonesia and Vietnam. The reason being that the team they played today are currently playing competitive football, they’re in the middle of their season. Today’s opponents Nagoya Grampus are currently 12th in the J-League and Friday’s opponents Urawa Red Diamonds are 4th. So again, there should be a difference in quality. The quality of opposition is slowly progressing and hopefully Arsenal can pass all these tests before the Premier League season gets underway.

Ryo Miyaichi was on the scoresheet on his return to his hometown. Picture: Goal.com