Though Arsenal retained the Emirates Cup(thanks to a weird rule), their performance against Sevilla was far from impressive. They were somewhat outplayed by the Spanish visitors despite starting with a good number of first team regulars.
Arsene Wenger decided to hand summer signing, Alexandre Lacazette his home debut. The Gunners started with Petr Cech in between the sticks with a back three consisting of Laurent Koscielny, Mohamed Elneny and Nacho Monreal.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Hector Bellerin started on either side. Wenger handed Academy boy, Joe Willock a chance to partner Aaron Ramsey in midfield, while Mesut Ozil, Danny Welbeck and Alexandre Lacazette spearheaded the attack.
Arsenal started the game well, attacking from the onset with the first real chance coming when an Ozil corner was met by Koscielny, inside the box, but the defender failed to test the Sevilla keeper.
Sevilla had the best chance of the first half when midfielder Ever Banega dissected the Gunners defence with a through ball to Ben Yedder. The striker did well to cut the ball past the onrushing Cech, but the shot came off the bar. The remainder of the first half saw few other wasted chances.
Joaquin Correa opened the scoring for the visitors after a defensive awkwardness saw Cech at the mercy of the attacker. After some time, Granit Xhaka was brought on to strengthen the midfield, replacing Willock. The substitution paid off.
Lacazette made no mistake in slotting the ball home when Chamberlain bulldozed down the right flank, crossed into the box and a miskick from Welbeck had the ball rolling to Lacazette.
After the goal, Arsenal appeared to relax again until another defensive mix-up saw Steven N’Zonzi score what could be the goal of the tournament from about twenty yards off.
Arsenal introduced Theo Walcott and Alex Iwobi late and battled endlessly to equalise while Sevilla also had their chances to increase the lead further, but both sides failed to find the back of the net.
It was sad to see the north London club take the trophy despite being outplayed by their Spanish visitors, and considering that Sevilla were the only team that won both of their games in the competition, it was unfortunate that a bizarre rule had them losing out to Arsenal.
