3 positives & negatives from Arsenal’s pre-season draw with Nurnberg

Arsenal opened up their summer with a 1-1 draw against 2. Bundesliga opponents FC Nurnberg on Thursday evening. 

Supporters caught their first glimpse of the Gunners since the end of the 2022/23 season, and it appeared as if Mikel Arteta’s side would coast to victory after Bukayo Saka opened the scoring early on. However, while the hosts barely threatened, Saka’s strike was all that separated the two sides at the break and a disjointed second-half showing allowed Nurnberg back into the contest.

While the result was pretty inconsequential, Arteta wouldn’t have been best pleased with his side’s conclusion to the contest – even if he did make wholesale changes as the game wore on.

3 positives & negatives from Arsenal’s pre-season draw with Nurnberg

There was plenty to discuss from Thursday’s game, including Jakub Kiwior’s role, Kai Havertz’s unofficial debut, and the emergence of youth. Here are three positives and negatives from Arsenal’s draw in Nuremberg.

Positive #1: Supreme Saka

Arteta surprised many by naming an incredibly strong starting XI that once again included Saka. The superstar wide man featured in every Premier League contest last season before playing twice for England in their Euro 2024 qualifiers last month.

Many expected Arteta to offer Saka some respite ahead of the US tour, but the 21-year-old was back in action right away on Thursday.

Fortunately, though, it doesn’t look as if Saka’s lost his majestic touch. During his 45-minute display, the winger caused all sorts of problems in tandem with the impressive Ben White; opening the scoring with a trademark strike before the Nurnberg defence resorted to booting him up in the air to mitigate his threat.

Negative #1: Eddie’s struggles

While Saka starred in the first half, the other two starters in the front line had little impact and Nketiah’s performance was particularly disappointing.

The striker, who now has Folarin Balogun in his rearview mirror, couldn’t be faulted from an attitude perspective as he worked tirelessly without the ball, but he struggled to find any sort of groove while his side had possession. He dropped deep to fill Leandro Trossard’s void when he peeled wide and attempted to combine as much as he could, but Nketiah was anonymous in the final third.

He was deployed out on the left in the second half, a role which doesn’t suit him, and played the joint-most minutes along with White. However, his performance raised more questions as opposed to offering clarity.

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