Carlos Vela (right) celebrates his goal with Jay Emmanuel-Thomas. Pic via Sky Sports.
Arsenal 3: Vela 3, Sagna 45, Nasri 51
Celtic 2: Murphy 72, Sung-Yueng 83
Arsenal once again dominated the first 70 minutes of a match at the Emirates Stadium in their home tournament, but once again crumbled in the final minutes. This time, however, their lead was large enough to hold up, and the Gunners retained hold of the Emirates Cup with a 3-2 win over Celtic.
The Gunners controlled the entirety of the first half, opening the scoring early as the efforts of Jack Wilshere set up a Theo Walcott cross to a sliding Carlos Vela to put Arsenal up 1-0 on three minutes. Despite numerous opportunities, Arsenal could not get a second until shortly before the stroke of halftime, when, after a corner kick, it was Bacary Sagna, of all people, who struck an absolutely brilliant drive off his non-favored foot from 20 yards out. Sagna had only scored once before in an Arsenal shirt, a header at Stamford Bridge in 2008.
Arsene Wenger made two positive substitutions at halftime, bringing on Samir Nasri and Marouane Chamakh, both of whom had brilliant games on Saturday. It worked pretty quickly; Nasri added to the scoresheet just six minutes into the second half.
From there, Arsenal took the engines off high gear and it nearly cost them. Sagna and Gael Clichy were pulled on 62 minutes and Thomas Vermaelen was pulled on 73. The back four from this point on looked shaky at best.
Celtic had the chance to ping a goal back from the spot on 68 minutes after a cynical American football-style tackle from Jack Wilshere on Marc-Antoine Fortune in the penalty area. Georgios Samaras lined up from the spot, but missed dreadfully high and wide. It looked like a goal would never come for Celtic...
...until the 72nd, when Daryl Murphy took advantage of a rebound from 10 yards out shortly after a corner. From there, Manuel Almunia kept Arsenal up two after a string of good saves, until the 83rd, when Ki Sung-Yueng was found open in the box after another defensive breakdown. Suddenly, a game which was firmly in control was now a one goal affair with seven minutes to play. Arsenal, however, were able to run out the clock, thanks to no stoppage time being played in the tournament, and were able to retain the trophy for the second consecutive year and for the third time in its four year history.
The Gunners play one more friendly, next Saturday in Warsaw, before opening the Premier League campaign at Liverpool on August 15.
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