Orlando City vs Arsenal result: Nketiah, Nelson score as Gunners pull away for preseason win

Orlando City vs Arsenal result: Nketiah, Nelson score as Gunners pull away for preseason win

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Arsenal remain on a roll during preseason, claiming a 3-1 friendly win over Orlando City to win their fourth straight preseason match.

Eddie Nketiah scored the go-ahead goal in the 66th minute and Reiss Nelson put the result away with 10 minutes remaining. New summer signing Gabriel Jesus did not get on the board for the first time this preseason.

Arsenal started a reserve side and despite taking an early 5th minute lead on an own goal — a Gabriel Martinelli shot was deflected past the ‘keeper — the Gunners pulled away in the second half after their first-choice players were brought on as subs.

It was the Arsenal back line that was particularly exposed in the first half with long balls and hard runs by Orlando City. Arsenal defenders Nuno Tavares and Pablo Mari were on their heels on the momentary equalizer by Facundo Torres. The Uruguayan beat both before lashing a grass cutter past goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.

Arsenal stay in Orlando to play London rivals Chelsea on July 23 at Camping World Stadium before returning home to London ahead of the Premier League season which kicks off on Friday, Aug. 5 at Crystal Palace.

MORE: Arsenal’s preseason schedule, results and lineups

Orlando City vs Arsenal final score

  1H 2H Final
Orlando City 1 0 1
Arsenal 1 2 3

Goals:
ARS — own goal (Antonio Carlos) — 5th min.
ORL — Facundo Torres (Antonio Carlos) — 29th min.
ARS — Eddie Nketiah — 66th min.
ARS — Reiss Nelson (Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard) — 80th min.

Orlando City vs Arsenal live updates, highlights from friendly

84th min.: SUBS — Hector Bellerin replaces Nuno Tavares for Arsenal, while two youngsters come on for Orlando. Moises Tablante is in for Benji Michel, and Pato comes out with Thomas Williams filling in.

80th min.: Goal Arsenal! Odegaard again bossing things. He feeds Bukayo Saka who send it in for Reiss Nelson to apply the first-time finish. That was clinical and classy by Arsenal.

79th min.: This Arsenal side has a lot more quality in it now and it’s showing. Odegaard is very involved and Bukayo Saka takes another shot on goal. Orlando are not even sniffing the other goal. Gabriel and William Saliba have made a difference.

74th min.: SUBS — Eddie Nketiah comes out after an active performance and Reiss Nelson takes his spot. Orlando bring on Jack Lynn for Jake Mulraney.

70th min.: Antonio Carlos with the huge block on Gabriel Jesus in the box after a poor Orlando giveaway. Arsenal have nine shots in this second half, while Orlando are still waiting for their first.

66th min.: Goal Arsenal! Gabriel Jesus has the ball deflected off his feet and it fell to Nketiah who didn’t waste any time, putting it past the ‘keeper for another Arsenal lead.

62nd min.: Two Orlando subs — Ruan on for right back Halliday, Tesho Akindele replaces Facundo Torres.

59th min.: More Arsenal subs — William Saliba for Rob Holding at center back, Bukayo Saka for Nicolas Pepe wide right, Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka replace Lokonga and Elneny in midfield.

58th min.: Eddie Nketiah forces a save! He gathers a beautiful pass from Odegaard and blasts a shot that Pedro Gallese stops for a corner.

52nd min.: Moments after Gabriel Jesus got his first real chance in the Orlando box, Jake Mulraney beat his defender and fired on goal, but Matt Turner stopped it.

46th min.: Second half is underway.

Five subs on for Arsenal: Matt Turner (for Aaron Ramsdale), Gabriel (for Pablo Mari), Odegaard (for Maitland-Niles), Ben White (for Cedric) and Gabriel Jesus (for Gabriel Martinelli).

Orlando made three changes: Schlegel in for Jansson, Smith comes on for Moutinho at left back and Junior Urso replaces Cesar Araujo.

Halftime: Orlando City 1, Arsenal 1

Halftime: Arsenal got the early goal and it was looking like it would be one of those games for the Gunners. But Orlando stayed with it and stuck to their game plan of absorbing pressure and hitting Arsenal on the counter. The Gunners were on their heels and will have plenty to talk about at halftime. Orlando could have come away with a lead in that first half.

47th+ min.: Eddie Nketiah creates a chance. He gets the ball in the box with his back to goal, but he gets a shot off. That was his chance. We’ll see if he gets to start the second half.

43rd min.: Orlando’s Benji Michel turns Rob Holding like a top. The Arsenal defenders are not covering themselves in glory.

38th min.: What a chance for Orlando! Arsenal’s Nuno Tavares stuffs Orlando’s Facundo Torres in the box after he received a good pass from Pato. Orlando are getting their chances and they’re doing it by stretching the field with long passes from the back.

32nd min.: Orlando’s tactics have worked thus far. They’re waiting for Arsenal to come at them and then hitting them on the break. There are spaces to exploit. The bright spot for Arsenal has been Gabriel Martinelli, who’s been very involved in attack.

29th min.: Goal Orlando! Facundo Torres dances around Nuno Tavares and Pablo Mari and fires a left-footed shot that beats an oustretched Ramsdale. Arsenal have looked stretched and were exposed by Orlando.

24th min.: Chance Orlando! Benji Michel is 1-on-1 against the ‘keeper and Aaron Ramsdale comes up with the stop on Orlando’s biggest chance of the night.

20th min.: And it’s a yellow for Ainsley Maitland-Niles for stopping a promising attack. He pulled back on Jake Mulraney. A more innocent foul compared to the Jansson tackle.

13th min.: Yellow for Robin Jansson and that was a bad tackle. Orlando’s big center back takes out Nuno Tavares from behind as the Arsenal man was racing forward in transition. But it’s Jansson who’s injured and needs treatment.

10th min.: Chance for Orlando! Ball reaches Pato in the box but his spinning shot goes high as he was falling backward. Arsenal get off the hook.

5th min.: Goal Arsenal! Gabriel Martinelli gets the ball on a give-and-go and fires a shot deflected off the back of defender Antonio Carlos and the goalkeeper had no shot.

1st min.: Arsenal already in the Orlando box through Gabriel Martinelli. Teams were raring to go.

***NOTE: Kickoff delayed by 1 hour due to weather

20:24 ET: Kickoff is finally within sight.

19:17 ET: Another 15-minute delay has been tacked on. Kickoff is now at 8:30 p.m. ET (20:30 ET / 01:30 UK).

19:10 ET: So there’s a weather delay in Orlando and kickoff is now set for 8:15 p.m. ET, which amounts to a 45-minute delay.

18:00 ET: The Oleksandr Zinchenko deal has not been done in time for this game. But his versatility will be another welcome addition in what has been a productive offseason of acquisitions for the Gunners.

17:30 ET: The Gunners will be debuting their new kit in the Orlando friendly.

Orlando City vs Arsenal lineups

Outside of Gabriel Martinelli and Nuno Tavares, the Arsenal lineup has a feel of a second team lineup compared to the one that beat Everton on Saturday.

Only one of the players who was absent against Everton is in contention for the match against Orlando City. Ben White returns to the matchday lineup on the bench, but Takehiro Tomiyasu, Kieran Tierney, Emile Smith Rowe, and Fabio Vieira all sat out the first match of the club’s U.S. tour.

Arsenal starting lineup (4-3-3, right to left): 32-Aaron Ramsdale (GK) — 17-Cedric Soares, 16-Rob Holding, 22-Pablo Mari, 20-Nuno Tavares — 15-Ainsley Maitland-Niles, 25-Mohamed Elneny, 23-Albert Sambi Lokonga — 19-Nicolas Pepe, 14-Eddie Nketiah, 11-Gabriel Martinelli

Arsenal subs (14): 30-Matt Turner (GK), 2-Hector Bellerin, 4-Ben White, 6-Gabriel, 12-William Saliba, 97-Reuell Walters, 5-Thomas Partey, 34-Granit Xhaka, 8-Martin Odegaard, 24-Reiss Nelson, 7-Bukayo Saka, 27-Marquinhos, 26-Folarin Balogun, 9-Gabriel Jesus

Orlando City can be expected to use backups, Orlando City B reserve team players, and academy products for the match against Arsenal given it is currently navigating a spell of seven matches in 22 days.

Goalkeeper Mason Stajduhar had jaw surgery in June with a 6-8 week recovery schedule, and Argentine winger Gaston Gonzalez is out with a long-term ACL injury. New signing Nicholas Gioacchini is not yet available for selection.

Orlando City starting lineup (4-4-2, right to left): 1-Pedro Gallese (GK) — 26-Michael Halliday, 25-Antonio Carlos, 6-Robin Jansson, 4-Joao Moutinho — 17-Facundo Torres, 21-Andres Perea, 5-Cesar Araujo, 23-Jake Mulraney — 7-Alexandre Pato, 19-Benji Michel

Orlando City subs (15): 40-Adam Grinwis (GK), 2-Ruan, 24-Kyle Smith, 15-Rodrigo Schlegel, 68-Thomas Williams, 30-Alexander Freeman, 35-Brandon Hackenberg, 32-Wilfredo Rivera, 11-Junior Urso, 51-Moises Tablante, Erick Gunera, 10-Mauricio Pereyra, 13-Tesho Akindele, 27-Jack Lynn, 9-Ercan Kara

MORE: Arsenal’s ‘All or Nothing’ release date on Amazon Prime

Orlando City vs Arsenal TV channel, live stream

  UK USA Canada Australia
Date Thurs, July 21 Weds, July 20 Weds, July 20 Thurs, July 21
Time 01:30 BST 20:30 ET 20:30 ET 10:30 AET
TV channel — — — —
Streaming Arsenal.com ESPN+ Arsenal.com Paramount+

UK & Canada: The match can be seen on Arsenal.com in the UK and Canada (£5.99).

USA: The friendly will be streamed on ESPN+ in the USA from Exploria Stadium.

Australia: Fans in Australia can watch the match on Paramount+.



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