Mohamed Azmi Muslim made the match interesting when his 30 yard flyer beat Vito Mannone as the defense went to sleep (eye roll, its Arsenal!) just before the end of the first half. By then the Gunners had missed at least three good chances including one from Andre Dos Santos.
Arsene Wenger made a number of substitutions in the second half and late in the half, Nico Yennaris charged down the right latching onto one of Alex Song’s preternatural passes. The wing back cut in and centred the ball to an arriving Thomas Eisfeld whose cool, calm finish put Arsenal back on level terms. A few minutes later, Benik Afobe who had been having his share of problems finishing scored the winner as his shot was deflected into goal. A late flurry but a win is a win.
Afterwards, Wenger had this to say:
“Overall we still have some tactical work to do and some physical work,” he said, “but don’t forget that some players have had only two or three days’ training. Some others have had a maximum of seven or eight, so physically we are far from what we can produce.”
Now its onto Beijing where they will meet Man City at the Birds Nest stadium. City as we know is Arsenal north-west.