Arsenal's pre-season preparations continued at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, where Mikel Arteta's Premier League champions were beaten 3-2 by Borussia Dortmund in an entertaining Emirates Cup encounter that saw the hosts twice pull themselves back into contention.
The occasion marked Arsenal's first appearance back at their home ground since being crowned English champions, and the north London club used the fixture to parade new signing Bruno Guimaraes to supporters after completing a £75million move from Newcastle United earlier in the week. Although there was no debut for the Brazilian midfielder, Arteta named a strong side featuring captain Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz, Viktor Gyokeres, Gabriel Magalhaes and summer arrival Christos Tzolis from the outset.
Arsenal were still missing several stars who had extended breaks following World Cup commitments, including Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka, but Gabriel's return to action offered a boost after the club's 3-1 defeat to Real Betis in Dublin in midweek. Myles Lewis-Skelly retained his place in midfield despite a difficult outing in that Dublin loss.
Dortmund raced into a commanding position, moving 2-0 ahead before the hour mark against an Arsenal defence that has looked shaky throughout pre-season. The German visitors, sharper in their build-up despite the Bundesliga season starting later than the Premier League, continued to punish Arsenal's lapses after the interval.
Just after the hour, Christos Tzolis produced a fine piece of individual play down the left flank before picking out Ethan Nwaneri, who kept his composure to finish and reduce the deficit to 1-2 in the 54th minute. The goal briefly lifted the home crowd, but Dortmund responded almost immediately. Fabio Silva escaped past Riccardo Calafiori with relative ease before his effort was saved, only for the loose ball to fall to Joane Gadou, who bundled it home to restore the two-goal cushion at 1-3.
Arsenal made a flurry of substitutions shortly after, sending on Piero Hincapie and Marli Salmon in place of Gabriel and Calafiori, while Dortmund brought on experienced figures Marcel Sabitzer and Serhou Guirassy as they looked to protect their advantage.
The hosts were handed a route back into the match in the 67th minute when Tzolis was fouled inside the penalty area. Viktor Gyokeres stepped up and confidently sent goalkeeper Marcel Meyer the wrong way to convert from the spot, making it 2-3 and setting up a tense finish. Gyokeres later saw a follow-up chance for a second goal denied by a smart save from Meyer, after being teed up again by Tzolis, whose delivery and combination play with Nwaneri stood out as one of the bright spots for Arsenal on the day.
Despite pushing for an equalizer, Arsenal could not find a third goal and suffered their second successive defeat of pre-season in which they shipped three goals, having only conceded three in a single Premier League match once throughout the entirety of last season.
Arteta will have plenty to address before Arsenal's next major test, the Community Shield against FA Cup winners Manchester City, just under two weeks away. The Gunners then open their Premier League title defense at home against newly promoted Coventry City on Friday, August 21.
Based on reporting from Independent Football and Standard Football.