Arsenal vs Fiorentina: Report, highlights and what we learned from pre-season friendly

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA — Arsenal made it three wins from three on their US tour with a 3-0 victory over Fiorentina.

Youth prevailed for the Gunners once more with 20-year-old forward Eddie Nketiah scoring twice before midfielder Joe Willock, 19, added a third.

But what did we learn from Arsenal’s International Champions Cup success?

Here we examine the key talking points from another impressive showing:

The future’s bright, the future’s Eddie

Many a club’s pre-season tour has seen a young player take advantage of some rare game-time to showcase their talents, and for Arsenal this time around, that standout starlet has been Nketiah.

The 20-year-old came off the bench to score the winner against a star-studded Bayern Munich in Arsenal’s last International Champions Cup match, and was rewarded with a starting berth in the baking heat in Charlotte by Emery.

His pace caused the Fiorentina backline all kinds of problems, while he showed composure not be expected for one so young when collecting a 15th minute pass from Sead Kolasinac, before sashaying past the defender and firing into the bottom corner.

Another goal followed to take his pre-season tally to three, and ensured the main questions put to Emery after the match would centre around his hopes for Nketiah. The Spaniard insisted he plans to keep him, should the youngster want to stick around.

With Danny Welbeck gone, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette are the only senior strikers – Nketiah’s time could be about to come.

Ljungberg effect taking hold already

Familiarity does not always breed contempt. Freddie Ljungberg has garnered praise from his boss Emery already this week for his tactical nous, but it is Ljungberg’s inside knowledge of Arsenal’s youngsters that now must be further impressing Emery.

That familiarity has helped Emery know exactly where to play his talented proteges, with Ljungberg’s knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of a host of youngsters he worked with at the Under-23s giving Emery plenty of options to consider.

“From the Under 15s I worked with him,” Bukayo Saka said after the match. “It has been a long journey but I feel like we both [him and Ljungberg] deserve it.

“The next generation of us can be in this Arsenal team and take on the world.”

Emery had no qualms about picking so many youngsters from the start against Fiorentina, and the majority of the youthful side shone, looked organised and posed real threat. Ljungberg’s role in those youngsters looking so comfortable and at home in the first team cannot be downplayed.

Nelson failing to live up to billing

One youngster who has not really set the world alight while all around him are turning heads is Reiss Nelson.

After scoring goals in the Bundesliga last season while on loan at Hoffenheim, Nelson was one of several teenagers to be given the chance in pre-season to show what they can do, and while Nketiah, Saka, Joe Willock and several others have produced the goods, Nelson has been disappointingly ineffective.

No goals or assist so far, he toiled in the heat on Charlotte, picking the wrong passes at key times and drifting out of the action for long periods.

It was thought Nketiah would be heading out on loan due to a lack of first-team opportunities available to him next season, but having outshone Nelson against some imposing opposition, Nelson could be the one set for another temporary stint away from the Emirates.

New year, same old defensive woes

Down the other end of the pitch, Arsenal fans have been living their very own defensive Groundhog Day over and over for years now, and this time it was the excitable North Carolina Arsenal fans who had their heads in their hands at frequency of the errors in “bruised banana” yellow.

With plenty of inexperienced teenagers fielded at the Bank of America Stadium, you could forgive their nervousness leading to mistakes, but it was the senior defenders who slipped up time and again, with Nacho Monreal, Shkodran Mustafi and Calum Chambers all making poor errors that lead to chances for Fiorentina.

Hopes for an end to Arsenal fans’ torment looked to be on the horizon as Arsenal look close to signing a very talented William Saliba, but the deal will involve the defender returning to his current club Saint-Etienne on loan for the season.

Emery has tried a back three, a back four and back again, but the errors persist. With no defensive reinforcements imminent, it looks as though Arsenal fans will be waking up with a familiar feeling on a daily basis this coming season too.

American Arsenal fans show their support for protest

The “#WeCareDontYou” campaign has created unity in the fractured Arsenal fanbase across the globe, garnering unprecedented support with over 100,000 signatures on the petition calling for owner Stan Kroenke to oversee some change at the club.

Three of the 16 Arsenal fans sites involved in starting the petition are based in the U.S. and fans not put off by scorching conditions in Charlotte did their part too, handing out fliers and keeping the message out there.

As many pointed out, just because they live the other side of the world, it does not mean they are less passionate than an Arsenal fan from Islington. Football is a global game now, and fans who get up early and watch every game on TV in the U.S. see as much soccer, if not more, than English fans.

They know their stuff, and care passionately about the club and even on their big moment, seeing their beloved in the flesh, they still took time to voice their disapprove and show solidarity.