Malaysia XI 1-2 Arsenal

Two late goals gave Arsenal a 2-1 win in the opening game of their Asia Tour yesterday. The Gunners appeared set for a defeat after going behind to a cracking goal from Mohamad Azmi Muslim on the stroke of half time. Arsenal had been frustrated all afternoon, squandering plenty of chances throughout the game. Andre Santos missed two good chances in front of goal and Marouane Chamakh also had a couple of chances before the Malaysians took the lead.

Arsene Wenger changed things up at the break, bringing on some first-team players that had started the match from the bench, such as Theo Walcott, Alex Song and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, as well as giving some inexperienced players like Chuks Aneke and Benik Afobe chances too.

It was Afobe that had the chance to level things up in the 66th minute after Alex Song’s through-ball put him in the clear. The youngster was denied by the onrushing goalkeeper though. Afobe had another chance with 10 minutes left, slicing wildly at a shot and not troubling the Malaysian keeper.

Just when it appeared as though it wasn’t going to be Arsenal’s day, Nico Yennaris broke down the right hand side and cut back for substitute Thomas Eisfeld to level things up. The German youngster had been on the pitch for under 10 minutes and already made an impact in his first first-team outing with the Gunners.

After they got the equaliser, Arsenal looked as if they could get the winner. Malaysia were tiring, Arsenal had substitutes eager to make a good impression in front of the first-team manager and it was one of them that stole the victory in the last minute. Chuks Aneke’s shot deflected off of a Malaysian defender and over the keeper into the net.

I switched off the television after the game as I had to go out, but apparently we lifted some sort of trophy for winning the game yesterday for whatever reason. Here’s a picture anyway: