Nketiah scores as Brentford end Gunners unbeaten pre-season streak

Arsenal saw their unbeaten preseason run ended by Premier League rivals Brentford in a behind-closed-doors friendly on Wednesday afternoon.

While Mikel Arteta has consistently played down the importance of results in non-competitive games, the fact his side beat Chelsea so convincingly in Orland last week naturally led to a huge amount of excitement.

Still, they suffered their first loss of their preseason campaign after goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Ryan Trevitt either side of Eddie Nketiah’s fifth strike of the summer saw Thomas Frank claim a victory.

Mbeumo fired past Matt Turner just before the 10-minute mark before Reiss Nelson and Ainsley Maitland-Niles combined well, eventually finding Nketiah, who slot home in the 24th minute.

Summer signing Marquinhos saw plenty of the ball as Arsenal moved through the gears, although Trevitt restored Brentford’s lead after good from Rico Henry just before the break.

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Gabriel Jesus did not feature at all, although it is not clear if that has any relation to the knock the Brazilian picked up against Chelsea.

Up next for Arsenal is a meeting with Sevilla at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday before their Premier League season opener against Crystal Palace on Friday August 5.