Arsenal 0 1 AS Monaco

by Tashan Deniran-Alleyne

at Ashburton Grove

AS Monaco striker Radamel Falcao marked his return to the starting line-up with the winning goal to deny Arsenal the Emirates Cup trophy yesterday and take some of the shine away from Alexis Sanchez.

The Colombian striker, who missed the World Cup with a knee injury, put his side ahead late in the first half with a header and they held on to the victory which in turn saw Valencia finish the day as winners.

After a brief cameo yesterday afternoon, big-money summer signing Sanchez was handed his first start for the club alongside fellow new recruit Mathieu Debuchy, whilst Calum Chambers retained his place at the heart of the defence, partnering Laurent Koscielny.

Both sides threatened early on, with Alexis starting the game brightly for the hosts while Joao Moutinho shot high and wide from long range and Falcao couldn’t direct his header on target either.

Oliver Giroud spurned a decent opening mid-way through the first half as couldn’t fully get the ball under control with just Subasic to beat.

Chambers then volleyed over the Gunners’ first effort of the game as he connected with Santi Cazorla’s corner, then at the other end Wojciech Szczesny was called into action to save comfortably from Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco but it wasn’t too long before the deadlock was broken.

Falcao capitalised on some slack marking in the 37th minute as he was left unmarked to rise highest and head Moutinho’s free-kick past Szczesny to put the visitors in front. 

Ocampos almost doubled the lead in first half injury time but his near-post flick hit the side netting.

The home side went close to an equaliser soon after the restart as Sanchez and Cazorla combined to feed Wilshere, who saw his well-struck effort from close range superbly beaten away by Subasic.

The three were involved again for another chance minutes later as the Spaniard nipped in to steal the ball for the former Barcelona man, who could only steer his shot in to the side netting.

With less than 10 minutes to go, Arsenal should have been awarded a penalty when Chuba Akpom was clearly brought down in the area by Subasic. 

But the referee pointed for a free-kick on the edge of the box, which was blasted straight at the wall by Ramsey.

As time ebbed away, an expected onslaught from the home side failed to materialise with last season’s Ligue 1 runners-up easing to a 1-0 victory.