LENS, France -- Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain marked
his injury comeback with a delightful goal as a
youthful Arsenal side drew 1-1 with French
second-division club RC Lens in their first
preseason game on Friday.
The Gunners trailed through Mathias Autret's first-
half goal and had lacked sharpness up front until
Oxlade-Chamberlain raced onto a pass from
Serge Gnabry and calmly chipped the ball over
goalkeeper Nicolas Douchez in the 82nd minute. It
was the lone piece of individual quality on the
night as Arsene Wenger's men had offered up few
solutions to the team's scoring woes before then.
Arsenal controlled play for much of the first half
but were undone in the 38th minute when Autret
scored with a simple tap-in at the far post.
Calum Chambers had gifted Lens a quick attack
when he failed to head the ball clear, allowing
Abdellah Zoubir to race through on goal and set
up Autret.
Arsenal created a few good early chances, only to
display the kind of poor finishing that hurt them
so often in key games last season.
With several of his top attackers yet to come back
from their summer holidays, Wenger started with
20-year-old striker Chuba Akpom up front, with
Jeff Reine-Adelaide and Alex Iwobi also playing in
attack alongside Theo Walcott. Akpom wasted the
team's first chance by shooting straight at the
goalkeeper after being teed up by Iwobi, and
Reine-Adelaide later missed his own opportunity
by firing wide.
Walcott was productive on the right wing in the
first half and moved up front after the break, but
couldn't carve out any clear-cut opportunities
before being taken off with 10 minutes left.
Aside from Oxlade-Chamberlain's beautiful goal,
the game also gave Wenger an opportunity to
assess a number of the players hoping to break
into the first team this season. Teenager Krystian
Bielik played centre-back in the second half, with
Gnabry on the wing and under-21 goalkeeper Matt
Macey between the posts.
French right-back Mathieu Debuchy was back in
an Arsenal shirt after going out on loan in
January, while Oxlade-Chamberlain made his
comeback from a knee injury that ruled him out of
Euro 2016 by playing the second half.
Arsenal fly to California on Monday, where they
will play the MLS All-Stars in San Jose on Friday.
They will likely field a stronger lineup for that
game, with the likes of Petr Cech, Jack Wilshere,
Santi Cazorla and Granit Xhaka expected to make
the trip.
Posted Africa News Sports
Chapisha Maoni