Arsenal 1 Monaco 1 (5-4 pens): Eddie Nketiah proves he can be the main man after Gabriel Jesus injury scare

1 year ago 86

ARSENAL are sweating on the fitness of star striker Gabriel Jesus after he missed their final pre-season match with a knee injury.

The £45million Brazilian international missed three months of last season after undergoing knee surgery.

Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah celebrates making it 1-1 just before the interval[/caption]

Now he is being assessed by the club’s medical team sparking fears that he could miss Sunday’s Community Shield clash with Manchester City and their opening Premier League game against Nottingham Forest in ten days’ time.

Oleksandr Zinchenko, Folarin Balogun and Reiss Nelson were also missing as Mikel Arteta’s team struggled to find their rhythm in front of former boss Arsene Wenger.

The 73-year-old Frenchman was watching from the directors’ box as a guest of the club who unveiled a statue of their most successful manager outside the Emirates last week.

And he wasn’t the only one getting a first look at £105million Declan Rice playing alongside Thomas Partey in an experimental midfield combination.

Jurrien Timber, the £35million acquisition from Ajax, was also making his first appearance for the club at the Emirates in a mix-and-match starting line-up which took longer than Arteta would have liked to get into their stride.

They were behind in the 30th minute when Youssouf Fofana was allowed a free header and were fortunate that William Saliba did not receive a second yellow card when he tripped Fofana when he was in on goal again five minutes later.

Rice was denied his first Arsenal goal by a last-ditch tackle from Guillermo Maripan before Eddie Nketiah stole in at the back post to equalise from Gabriel Martinelli’s 43rd minute corner.

Wissam Ben Yedder missed a glorious opportunity to restore Monaco’s lead as the Ligue Un continued to threaten after the break.

DREAM TEAM IS LIVE – JOIN NOW TO BATTLE FOR THE £50k TOP PRIZE

Arsenal also had their chances after Arteta made seven changes on the hour, with Leandro Trossard shooting straight at keeper Philipp Kohn and Martin Odegaard firing the follow-up just over.

But with neither team able to force a winner, it required a penalty shoot-out for Arsenal to lift the Emirates Cup after Aaron Ramsdale saved an absolute piledriver from former Liverpool striker Takumi Minamino.