Player ratings: Arsenal 3-2 Newcastle

Arsenal made it two from two in pre-season with a 3-2 victory over follow Premier League side Newcastle.

The Arsenal goals came from Martin Odegaard (penalty), Mikel Merino and an own goal from Alex Murphy. Arsenal were the better team on the day but allowed a couple of soft goals from Newcastle to go in.

Newcastle’s new £55million signing Anthony Elanga gave Newcastle an early lead, but Mikel Arteta will be impressed with how his team responded and managed to score three goals.

Here’s how I rated the players:

David Raya (off at 60′) – 5 – Suspect for the second goal and distribution was not great today.

Ben White (off at 77′) – 6

William Saliba (off at 77′) – 6

Riccardo Calafiori (off at 47′) – 6.5

Myles Lewis-Skelly (off at 77′) – 5 – Struggled in the first half with a few bad passes and not looking his usual self. Looks to have bulked up a bit though!

Martin Zubimendi (off at 77) – 8 – Looked tidy and gets all over the pitch, the highlight for me, especially in the first half. The indications are he will slide into this line up seamlessly.

Mikel Merino (off at 69′) – 7

Ethan Nwaneri (off at 45′) – 6

Bukayo Saka (off at 60′) – 7

Kai Havertz (off at 60′) – 6.5

Leandro Trossard (off at 77′) – 5

Subs

Martin Odegaard (on at HT) – 7

Jakub Kiwior (on at 47′ for Calafiori) – 6

Kepa (on at 60′ for Raya) – 6

Gabriel Martinell (on at 60′ for Havertz) – 6

Max Dowman (on at 60′ for Saka) – 8 – Stunning cameo from Dowman. Unlucky not to score twice with two great shots on target and then a great solo run saw him win the penalty that Arsenal scored the winner from.

Declan Rice (on at 69′ for Merino) – 6

On at 77′ – Oleksandr Zinchenko, Marli Salmon, Cristian Norgaard, Josh Nichols, Andre Harriman-Annous (N/A).