New signing Gervinho bagged an early brace while only playing 29 minutes in Arsenals third pre-season match against FC Cologne. Youngster Carl Jenkinson also scored his first goal for the club..at the wrong end, with a spectacular own goal.
It started well for the Gunners, with the Ivorian forward Gervinho latching onto Wilshires superb lobbed through ball early in the seventh minute, finishing tidily past Cologne ‘keeper Rensing. He then added another in the sevententh minute thanks to a mistake from the Cologne leftback, which allowed Walcott to cross coolly to Gervinho who darted ahead of the defence and slotted home Arsenal’s second.
FC Cologne were then given a glimmer of hope just before half-time after Jenkinson tried to clear a long ball forward but got it horribly wrong. The ball flew high off his boot, then miraculously over the head of the scrambling Szczesny and into his own net, something Jenkinson would love to forget.
Wenger made 10 changes at the break; only Kieran Gibbs stayed on. Andrey Arshavin and Keiran Gibbs both went close with a couple of low drives and, at the other end, keeper Vito Mannone snatched the ball of the toe of Podolski after Mato Jajalo’s scooped pass had given him a scent of a opening.
Cologne came closer to an equalizer as Jajalo darted inside dangerously, but Johan Djourou threw himself in to block from close range.
Tomas Rosicky’s cheeky drive caught Varvodic unawares but he parried to safety well and, 13 minutes from time, Arshavin appeared to be clipped in the area. The Russian then saw a shot batted away as Arsenal tried to secure the victory.
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Overall it was a decent performance for Arsenal, the defence was a bit shaky, but in attack the Gunners looked promising and full of fire. Next up is Boca Juniors.
Here is a quick highlights clipping from the match:
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