Guimaraes makes Arsenal debut in Como friendly draw

… He’s going to make us better — Arteta

Bruno Guimaraes put in an assured performance as he made his Arsenal debut in a 1-1 friendly draw with Como at Emirates stadium.

The £75m signing from Newcastle United was officially announced on Saturday, then introduced to the club’s supporters before their friendly with Dortmund on Sunday.

Fans arrived at Emirates on Wednesday evening in anticipation of seeing the Brazilian international in action, but had to wait until half-time.

Myles Lewis-Skelly, whose future has been much debated in the past couple of days following reported interest from rivals Chelsea and Manchester United, opened the scoring in the first half.

But the Gunners were then pegged back by an excellent strike from Martin Baturina before Guimaraes was introduced.

Chants of “Bruno” rang out around the ground as the new number 39 stepped on to the pitch, followed by cheers as he had his first touch of the ball.

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Guimaraes, known for his combative, all-action style, put in a recovery tackle to stop a Como counter-attack before passing the ball to David Raya, with the passage of play cheered like a goal.

There were early signs of a partnership between Guimaraes and Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard, too.

Mikel Arteta had named an experimental side for this game, with five academy graduates in the starting XI.

But as the game hit the hour mark, Arteta brought on what could be considered his strongest available side, with thoughts of the Community Shield against Manchester City on Sunday.

Guimaraes had been playing alongside Lewis-Skelly but once he was withdrawn, as Mikel Merino and Odegaard were introduced from the substitutes bench, the new signing dropped to be the deepest-lying player in the Arsenal midfield.

The match drifted as the changes and a second-half drinks break affected the flow of the game, but Kai Havertz, Noni Madueke and Cristhian Mosquera all had efforts before the end of the match.

Guimaraes tried a chipped pass behind the Como defence, which Havertz finished, but the offside flag was up to rule the strike out.

The pass over the defence is something the midfielder tried a couple of times and will give supporters encouragement he can help the Gunners find their attacking flow as the season gets under way.

This is not a performance that will define Guimaraes’ time in north London, but the fact he settled in so seamlessly is exactly why Arsenal bought him for the large fee.

After the match followed a pre-agreed penalty shootout and Guimaraes boldly scored his spot-kick, which will give him a confidence boost before the first competitive match of Arsenal’s season on Sunday.

Arteta was asked in his post-match news conference if the midfielder would be ready to start against Manchester City.

“Let’s see. He only had three training sessions. But he looked good,” he said,

“He was really pushing to play some minutes today. I think he wanted to get his debut and the feeling of playing in front of our fans immediately.

“You sensed immediately a really strong connection and a player that is going to make us better without a doubt.”

(BBC)