Arsenal 3-1 Orlando City – Player Ratings as Gunners cruise in friendly

Arsenal continued its undefeated preseason with a 3-1 win over Orlando City. A first-half deflected goal from Gabriel Martinelli sent the Gunners on their way, before Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson netted in the second-half to secure the win.

Mikel Arteta named a vastly different XI from the one that defeated Everton 2-0 last time out. Aaron Ramsdale made his first appearance in the preseason, while other fringe players in Rob Holding, Nuno Tavares, Pablo Mari, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Mohamed Elneny, and Nicolas Pepe all started. Eddie Nketiah led the line for the Gunners.

It took the Gunners a mere five minutes to take the lead. A neat one-two between Gabriel Martinelli and Sambi Lokonga gave the Brazilian space, and his deflected shot passed Pedro Gallese in the Orlando goal.

The game ebbed and flowed, with Aaron Ramsdale forced into a good save from Benji Michel, who was played through with a long ball over the top with the goal at his mercy with 25 minutes gone.
Orlando City leveled just after the drinks break after a long ball found its way to Facundo Torres, who cut inside Nuno Tavares and lashed home his shot past Ramsdale.

The rest of the half was relatively uneventful as Arsenal headed into the shed’s level at 1-1.

The second half started with Arsenal in total control as Arteta made several changes. The Gunners took the lead in the 65th minute as Eddie Nketiah was jogging on the spot after Gabriel Jesus was tackled in the box, then the Englishman was on hand to hammer it home the rebound.

With a little over ten minutes remaining, Arsenal had its third goal. After good work from Martin Odegaard and then Bukayo Saka, who lofted a delightful ball to Nelson, who smashed home to give the Gunners a two-goal lead.

The rest of the second half was rather uneventful as Arsenal dominated possession, leaving Orlando City chasing shadows. A comfortable 3-1 win as the Gunners’ attention now turns to Chelsea.

Here are the Arsenal player ratings from their win over Orlando.

Goalkeepers and Defenders

Ramsdale (GK) 5/10 – Didn’t have much to do but pick the ball out of his net. Made a decent save in the first half,  at least it was minutes for our Englishman.

Cedric (RB) 5/10 – He got forward well but lacked any cutting edge once he got into good positions. Ok, without being superb.

Holding (CB) 5/10 – Solid enough in the first half but did not need to do much as Tavares was the target. Solid hitout.

Mari (CB) 4/10 – Poor first half, like many of the back four. He didn’t deal well with the long balls and was a bystander for the most part.

Tavares (LB) 5/10– A really poor first half as Orlando targeted him. He was at fault for the goal, had a better second half, but did little to show that he can be a good back-up when the season rolls around.

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