Arsenal: Work to do as Villarreal defeat exposes 'naive' weaknesses | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta has plenty of food for thought after an out-of-character display

Frustrated: Bukayo Saka struggled to link up with Viktor Gyokeres

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Arsenal were handed their second defeat of pre-season as they were beaten by Villarreal.

The Spanish side ran out 3-2 winners at Emirates Stadium, thanks to goals from former Gunners winger Nicolas Pepe, Karl Etta Eyong and Arnaut Danjuma.

Arsenal hit back through efforts from Christian Norgaard and Martin Odegaard, but it was not enough to stop them falling to a defeat.

And, here, Standard Sport takes a look at some talking points from the game…

Arsenal will take time to adapt to Gyokeres

One of Arsenal’s new signings was on the scoresheet on Wednesday evening; it was just not the player those inside Emirates Stadium expected.

Fans had arrived eager to get their first glimpse of Viktor Gyokeres, but instead it was Norgaard who found the net.

It was the sort of chance Gyokeres would have loved to have been presented with, however, he largely had to feed off scraps.

The Swede’s best opportunity came just before he was taken off around the hour mark, when a through-ball from Mikel Merino found him in the box.

Gyokeres was quick to get his shot off, but from a tight angle, Villarreal goalkeeper Luiz Junior was able to keep it out.

Other than that, Gyokeres was largely quiet as he made his first start for Arsenal. That was not due to a lack of effort and, more than once, he made runs in behind - but his team-mates did not find him.

Clearly, it will take time for Arsenal to get used to the way their new No9 plays.

Dowman shines, again

If there was one clear positive for Mikel Arteta after this defeat, it was the performance of Max Dowman.

The 15-year-old has enjoyed a, quite frankly, remarkable pre-season, and he was impressive again in this defeat to Villarreal.

Handed 30 minutes off the bench, Dowman looked so sharp, beating defenders for fun and causing problems.

It was Dowman who won the penalty, which Odegaard slotted home, deftly turning in the box to draw a foul.

Arsenal will want to control the hype around Dowman, given he is so young that he will not be taking his GCSEs until next summer.

It will become increasingly hard to, however, when the teenager keeps putting in performances like this one.

Dowman looked at home on such a stage, playing at Emirates Stadium with the first team for the first time.

Arteta unhappy with defensive display

Arteta labelled Arsenal’s defending as “naive” in this defeat, and it certainly not in keeping with their usual displays.

For Villarreal’s opening goal, Jakub Kiwior was muscled off the ball too easily at the back post as Pepe scored.

The visitors’ second also came after some sloppy defending and this time Eyong was on hand to fire home a rebound.

The third, and ultimately winning goal, was a result of Arsenal being hit on the counter, as former Tottenham forward Danjuma arrowed a strike into the bottom corner.

This was the third pre-season game in a row that Arsenal have failed to keep a clean sheet and they have been uncharacteristically shaky at the back.

The change in personnel has not helped, with Gabriel only getting his first minutes of pre-season during the second half here.

Cristhian Mosquera summed up the experimentation, with his 45 minutes split between right-back and the heart of defence.

Arteta will hope a settled backline, perhaps on Saturday against Athletic Bilbao, will bring better results.