Emirates Cup: Arsenal 3 - 2 Celtic: Too Close for Comfort

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.

Emirates Cup: Arsenal 1 - 1 Milan: Missed Chances

Arsenal newcomer tackles a jerkface former Gunner. Pic via Guardian.

Arsenal 1: Chamakh 36

Milan 1: Pato 76

It's late and I'm exhausted after helping a friend move, so you get bullet points instead of paragraphs. Deal with it.

• Both new signings, Marouane Chamakh and Laurent Koscielny, looked great in their Emirates Stadium debuts. Chamakh had the Arsenal goal with a nifty little touch finish in the box nine minutes from halftime.
• Among the youngsters, both Jack Wilshere and Emmanuel Frimpong looked comfortable on the pitch.
• Lukasz Fabianski was not abysmal and he had no chance on Milan's goal, off a free kick which I didn't think was a foul on Sagna to begin with. But, while he had no chance, Arsenal's organization in defending the free kick was poor in the first place, and that organization is generally the keeper's job.
• Speaking of Sagna, I thought he was a step off the pace a bit, but I'm not positive if this was his first match of the pre-season or not.
• Arsenal had a golden chance to regain the lead shortly after Milan leveled the score, but Mark Randall was stifled twice in the box. Those shots have to go in. It was practically gift wrapped.
• Fabianski was bailed out by the woodwork on at least two occasions.
• I thought Samir Nasri was absolutely brilliant today.
• Overall, it was a thrilling match for a pre-season friendly and plenty of players had good showings. Both sides missed a number of chances to win this one.

Arsenal will play Celtic, who scored twice in the final ten minutes to draw Lyon 2-2 in the Emirates Cup opening match, tomorrow. Celtic are down 3-0 in their Champions League qualifier with a second leg at home coming up this week, so I don't expect them to field their strongest side.

Preview: Emirates Cup, Arsenal v. AC Milan and Celtic

Cesc Fabregas's 84th minute goal at the San Siro eliminated AC Milan from the 2008 Champions League. Pic via Guardian.

Emirates Stadium, London

Saturday, July 31 and Sunday, August 1

16:20 BST, 11:20 a.m. EDT

• All-Time vs. Milan: 1 Arsenal win, 1 Milan win, 2 draws
• All-Time vs. Celtic: 2 Arsenal wins, 0 Celtic wins, 0 draws
• Arsenal Last Year
• Premier League: 23 wins, 6 draws, 9 losses; 3rd place
• Champions League: Lost Quarter-finals to Barcelona 6-4 on aggregate
• AC Milan Last Year
• Serie A: 20 wins, 10 draws, 8 losses; 3rd place
• Champions League: Lost Round of 16 to Manchester United 7-2 on aggregate
• Celtic Last Year
• Scottish Premier League: 25 wins, 6 draws, 7 losses, 2nd place
• Champions League: Lost qualifying playoff to Arsenal 5-1 on aggregate

About AC Milan

• Milan were founded in 1899 as a cricket club by British expatriots from Nottingham. In honor of this history, the club retains the English spelling "Milan" instead of the Italian "Milano."
• A disagreement over the signing of foreign players in 1908 led to a split and the formation of Milan's rival, Internazionale.
• After this, Milan did not win a domestic title again until 1951.
• In 1963, they defeated Benfica to win their first European Cup.
• Milan was relegated to Serie B after a match fixing scandal in 1980.
• They were involved in another match fixing scandal in 2006 and were supposed to be docked 15 points and suspended from the 2006-07 Champions League. On appeal, the points deduction was reduced to 8 and they were permitted to enter the European tournament, which they subsequently won.
• Milan have won 17 Serie A titles, five Coppa Italia titles (Italy's domestic tournament,) and seven European titles.

About Celtic

• Established in 1887, Celtic played their first match one year later.
• Celtic won the Quintuple in 1967, winning the Scottish League, Cup, and League Cup, plus the Glasgow Cup, and European Cup.
• That European Cup was a first for a team from Great Britain.
• From 1966 to 1974, Celtic won nine consecutive Scottish titles. That world record was equalled by their rivals, Rangers, in 1997.
• They have won 42 Scottish league titles, 34 Scottish Cups, 14 League Cups, and one European title.
• The last time a team other than Celtic or Rangers won a Scottish title was 1985 and Aberdeen.

The Emirates Cup

• Arsenal won the competition last year after two wins, a wild finish in a 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid (Arshavin 86, 90; Pacheco 88) and a 3-0 win over Rangers (Wilshere 2, 72, Eduardo 11.) Jack Wilshere was named Man of the Match in both games.
• Arsenal won the inaugural competition in 2007, beating PSG 2-1 (Flamini 45, Bendtner 70; Luyindula 80) and Inter Milan 2-1 (Hleb 67, van Persie 85; Suazo 62.)
• Arsenal lost the cup in 2008 to Hamburg, whom they did not play over that weekend. Arsenal lost to Juventus 1-0 (Trezeguet 37) and beat Real Madrid 1-0 (Adebayor 49 pen.)
• In the Emirates Cup, teams get three points for a win, one point for a draw, nothing for a loss, plus an extra point for each goal scored. The tie-breakers are goal difference, goals scored, and total shots.
• The fourth team in this year's tournament, whom Arsenal will not play, is Lyon.

Arsenal News and Notes

• A quartet of players either certainly won't or may not be fit for the season opener at Anfield in two weeks. Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie don't return from vacation until the 5th of August and Nicklas Bendtner remains out with a groin injury. The fourth is, of course, Aaron Ramsey.
• Three midfielders (Alex Song, Abou Diaby, and Denilson) will all miss the weekend tournament with injuries as well. They should all return on the 7th in Warsaw.
• Arsenal still need to sign at least one more center half in order to have four established players at the position. Even with this in mind, Arsene Wenger has moved the young Havard Nordtveit to the right side. Only Bacary Sagna now naturally plays the position; his cover, if necessary, is Emmanuel Eboue.
• Arsenal goalkeepers, disastrous as they are, have yet to concede a goal in the pre-season. Vito Mannone has stopped a penalty. Very few have had much work, though.