Jesus Scores Again As Arsenal Destroy Chelsea 4-0 In Pre-Season Friendly


New signing Gabriel Jesus continued his impressive start to life as an Arsenal player as the Gunners maintained their 100 per cent pre-season record by hammering London rivals Chelsea 4-0 in the Florida Cup final in Orlando.

Dominant Arsenal – who also handed first start to new £32m signing Oleksandr Zinchenko – were much the better team played in front of a record 63,811-strong crowd at Camping World Stadium.

Chelsea, with Raheem Sterling starting for the first time and fellow new recruit Kalidou Koulibaly restricted to a late cameo, lost Trevoh Chalobah to a first-half knock.

Jesus scored inside 15 minutes after dinking the ball over Edouard Mendy after Chelsea had given the ball away.

It was Jesus’ fourth goal already in three games for his new club, having flourished since reuniting with Mikel Arteta in north London.

The Gunners struck again 10 minutes before the interval, taking advantage of another gift of possession as Gabriel Martinelli picked out Martin Odegaard whose strike nestled in the bottom corner.

Chelsea almost pulled a goal back right on the stroke of half-time, but Mason Mount’s fierce strike rattled the post and bounced clear.

Arsenal extended their lead with 25 minutes remaining as Bukayo Saka knocked home from close range after two fine stops in quick succession from Mendy to deny both Martinelli and Xhaka.

The one-sided rout was wrapped up deep into stoppage time by Albert Sambi Lokonga, who was somehow left completely unmarked to head in a right-wing cross from Cedric Soares.

Arsenal end their tour of the US with three wins from as many games and nine goals scored, while Chelsea won just once after losing to Charlotte FC on penalties in midweek, failing to keep a single clean sheet.

Chelsea travel to Italy to face Udinese in their final pre-season friendly on Friday, while Arsenal meet Sevilla in the Emirates Cup next weekend before beginning the new campaign against Crystal Palace.

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