Oxlade-Chamberlain leads Gunners to 3-1 win over Chivas
CARSON, Calif. – In the end it was a fairly comfortable victory for Arsenal as goals from Rob Holding, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Chuba Akpom were enough to lift the Premier League side to a 3-1 win over Liga MX powerhouse Chivas de Guadalajara.
But it didn’t necessarily look as if it would be that way at the outset with Chivas dominating proceedings in the the early stages of the contest, largely denying Arsenal the possession it relies on to get its passing game going.
“It was a lively game with a very determined Chivas. It was interesting for us because we needed to be a bit patient,” said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger afterwards.
The Frenchman fielded what could be considered as his strongest possible lineup with the players available to him from his touring squad, with the notable exception of Jack Wilshire who was left out of the match-day team.
Chivas wore its traditional red and white stripes, while Arsenal sported its neon-stripped, navy blue third kits.
The 24,168 strong crowd at the Stub Hub Center was largely pro-Arsenal however, the assembled Gooners still found themselves regularly shouted down by opposition fans chanting “Chi-vas.”
And it was the Mexican side had the better of chances early on, with Eduardo Lopez threatening the Arsenal goal in the 20th minute with a curling effort from just inside the box that sailed dangerously close to the top corner of Arsenal keeper David Ospina’s goal.
Arsenal struggled to cope with Chivas’ early dominance and Lopez in particular caused a number of problems for the Gunners’ defense.
The North London side’s closest thing to a look on goal didn’t arrive until midway through the half when Granit Xhaka played a ball through to Oxlade-Chamberlain that went out for the Gunners’ first corner of the night. Santi Cazorla stepped up and delivered a dangerous ball in that was headed over by Chambers.
Chivas’ best chance of the first half came on the half hour mark when Daniel Gonzalez sent an effort just wide of a the far corner of the Arsenal goal.
It was an opportunity Chivas was made to rue as gradually, Arsenal began to come more into the match. Moments later, Theo Walcott forced Chivas keeper Antonio Rodriquez into his first action of the night, using his pace to get free of him marker and directing an effort across the face of goal the keeper had to dive for.
Arsenal was looking threatening by now and the breakthrough finally arrived just 10 minutes before halftime when the Gunners were awarded a free kick.
Cazorla stepped up and sent an effort to the far post that was squared by Chambers for Holding. Arsenal’s newest recruit made no mistake converting from close range to put the North Londoners 1-0 up in the 34th minute.
Arsenal nearly doubled its lead a minute later when Nacho Monreal found Walcott in he box. But the England man’s touch again let him down as his effort was routinely saved by Rodriguez.
The Gunners continued to ratchet up the pressure and the Ox came close a few moments later, winding a mazy run through the Chivas defense and getting off a shot that forced another save out of Rodriguez.
As the first half finished 1-0 Wenger made wholesale changes in the second half, withdrawing Hector Bellerin, Chambers, Holding, Xhaka, and Cazorla to bring on Mathieu Debuchy, Kieran Gibbs, Joel Campbell, Chuba Akpom, Mohammed Elneny, and Krystian Bielik.
Despite the personnel changes, the Gunners picked up in the second half pretty much where they’d left off in the first and it didn’t take long for it to pay off.
Just five minutes into the second period Oxlade-Chamberlain took off on another mazy run, bamboozled three Chivas defenders and slotted a shot past a diving Rodriguez to make it 2-0 for Arsenal in the 50th minute.
The Gunners put the result beyond a doubt five minutes later when Debuchy turned on the style to lose his man and square the ball for Akpom who converted Arsenal’s third from close-range, making it 3-0 in the 56th.
“They started better than us. After 20 minutes we got into the game, and I think after that, we got the comfortable win in the end,” said Wenger.
Chivas did manage to pull one back in the 74th minute after being awarded a penalty when Debuchy brought down Alejandro Zendejas in the box.
Angel Zaldivar stepped up to the spot and duly converted, settling the final score at 3-1 to Arsenal.
