Alexandre Lacazette bags a hat-trick as Arsenal defeated Brentford B in a closed-doors friendly on Wednesday afternoon.
Rob Holding also scored for Arsenal as they were able to secure a resounding 4-1 victory, with Julian Jeanvier netting the Bees’ only goal of the game.
Mikel Arteta was without several of his first team players who are due to return soon after representing their countries in their quest to qualify for the World Cup during the international break, meaning the Arsenal XI was largely composed of members of Kevin Betsy’s under-23s squad.
Zak Swanson, Mazeed Ogungbo, Miguel Azeez, Charles Sagoe Jr. all started, while Bradley Ibrahim celebrated signing his first professional contract by making the Arsenal XI and Charlie Patino made his first start since January.
Arsenal’s January signing Lino Souza was on the bench while fellow academy players Jonathan Dinzeyi, Mauro Bandeira, Nathan Butler Oyedeji, Joel Ideho and Mika Biereth joined him among the subs.
First team players Bernd Leno and Eddie Nketiah took part, while left back Nuno Tavares was involved despite withdrawing from the Portugal under-21 squad due to injury.
Aaron Ramsdale and Takehiro Tomiyasu as we heard were not to have been involved as they look to recover from respective hip and calf injuries that kept them out of action until the international break.
Bukayo Saka was also involved as he continues his recovery from a positive test for COVID-19 that saw him miss England’s friendlies against Swizterland and Ivory Coast.
Arsenal dominated possession as expected and came close early on through Nketiah, who saw a low drive at goal saved by Brentford goalkeeper Roco Rees. Holding also missed narrowly with a header from a corner before Lacazette opened the scoring in the 16th minute, sending a deflected effort from close range into the back of the net following a mazy run from Nketiah.
It was the Nketiah who played a big part in their second after the break, with Lacazette tapping home the rebound after Ben Winterbottom pushed away his initial shot from distance.
The French striker then completed his hat-trick with a long-range strike of his own, before Holding got among the goals by heading home from a corner.
Brentford, who created a few decent opportunities themselves at times, eventually netted a goal which was purey a consolation when Julian Jeanvier headed in from Alex Gilbert’s free-kick. Nico Jones almost pulled back another late on, only for his header to be cleared off the line.
The friendly represented a good opportunity for Arteta to keep a handful of his non-international senior players fit ahead of their return to Premier League action.
Arsenal are set to go away to Crystal Palace on Monday night, a game the likes of Lacazette and Holding will now be fully prepared for. By then, first team players would be back from their International duties.
The Gunners are in a solid position to secure a return to the Champions League next season, as Arteta’s side currently sit three points clear of bitter rivals Tottenham in fourth and have a game-in-hand to play.
They have been absent from the competition since the 2016/17 campaign, while they failed to qualify for any European Competition this campaign.
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