Arsenal 5 Benfica 2: Goals galore at the Emirates in convincing Gunners performance

Goals galore for the Gunners, who find some pre-season form. Great performances from some of the youngsters, stand-outs from Walcott, Giroud and Kolasinac.

It's all coming to a quiet close now. Benfica work the ball around the Arsenal half but Monreal and Elneny work together to win it back. Lacazette brings the counter-attack forward, Ozil finds Elneny at the back post... it's cleared... and that will be all!

Lacazette cuts in from the left and shapes to shoot on the edge of the box... but it's a cunning ruse! He disguises the chipped pass to Ramsey who can't quite reach it.

Kolasinac has been the best player on the pitch today. He runs into the box again, taking a clever ball from Lacazette in his stride but his first touch is heavy. Goal kick.

Arsenal have Benfica running all over the place to try and deal with their attacking play. Great pass-and-move football from Wenger's team.

Ramsey and Ozil nearly link superbly around the box but Ramsey just can't quite read the return pass and it goes out for a goal kick.

This is purely speculative, but for what it's worth, Giroud's celebration after his goal was...interesting. Perhaps telling. He looked slightly sad, his head sunken to the ground as he acknowledged his teammates and then he patted the Arsenal badge on his shirt... are we seeing the last days of Giroud the Arsenal player? Or am I reading too much into it? Probably the last one.

Benfica nearly set up the best goal of the game but Raul rushes his volley on the edge of the area and drags it wide. 

How will this entirely new Arsenal team adapt to the game then? At the moment they're a little disjointed, as you might expect, and Benfica are keeping the ball away from them. Lacazette hasn't touched the ball yet.

HE'S TOUCHED THE BALL! But it's disappointment all round for Arsenal fans as not only does he not score a hat-trick with his first touch, he actually passes the ball back towards his own defenders as he tracks back to intercept a Benfica move. 

Great save by Ospina. Pizzi gets some power on a placed shot into the bottom corner but the goalkeeper gets across and turns it behind. Ruben Dias is on for Sefer O'Vich.

Arsenal take Xhaka off for Aaron Ramsey, Iwobi replaced by Ozil, Monreal on for Maitland-Niles, Oxlade-Chamberlain for Two Oh Walcott, and HERE COMES LACAZETTE! The crowd gets excited as Reiss Nelson is replaced by Arsenal's record signing.

Arsenal 5 (Iwobi 71') - 2 Benfica

WOOOOOF! What a hit by Iwobi! He's absolutely power smashed that one into the back of the net. Cesar can't even get close to it! Kolasinac leads the attack but Giroud's clever lay off tees up the rocket from Iwobi, who duly obliges. Arsenal are on fire.

The commentator on this game is pronouncing Seferovic as Sefer O'Vich, as though it were an Irish person, rather than the way I'm pretty sure you're meant to say it. I love a stylised bit of commentary.

And it's nearly two for Giroud! He manages to snap a shot away during another Arsenal attack and draws a decent save from Cesar, denying what would have been an excellent team goal. 

Arsenal 4 (Giroud 64') - 2 Benfica

That's brilliant by Giroud. Absolutely superb poaching by the Frenchman who times his run at exactly the right moment to attack Nelson's cross from the right, which came from Walcott's driving run I mentioned in the post below this. 

Giroud has to hold off the defender as he hits a delicate volley back across goal, completely catching Cesar out. Great finish.

Arsenal are controlling possession, passing the ball around nicely, moving well and then Walcott goes on a driving run...

Xhaka is injured. He's taken a nasty one to the ankle... although does seem to be running fine after a minute or so nursing the pain from that challenge. Benfica are making three subs.

Jonas off, Rafa Silva on, Chrien is on for Cervi and Grimaldo is on too.

Urghghghghghhhhhhh. It should be three oh Walcott, but he punts an easy chance miles over the bar as Giroud spins to play him in. Dreadful finish.

 You've got to score from there, Theo. He knows. He definitely knows.

It's all Arsenal! They're creating chances with waves of attacks, running at the Benfica defence and pulling them apart. 

This is what the game looks like at the moment; Walcott sprinting at worried defenders. Arsenal seem to be trying really hard to win this game.

Arsenal are in the ascendancy, as the old ISS 98 commentator would say, and have players streaming forwards into the Benfica box in their latest attack. 

Kolasinac accidentally knocks the ball behind for a goal kick. 

Walcott drives through the middle and plays it to Iwobi, who tries to dribble past two defenders at once and then just can't quite keep the ball in play.

Arsenal 3 (Lopez O.G 52') - 2 Benfica

It's an own goal and it's quite a funny one. Walcott is just onside as he takes the ball inside the area, looks up to Giroud in the six yard box and fizzes a pass across the area towards him. Lopez dives in and turns the ball past his own goalkeeper. Woops!

Seferovic is played in behind but pulls a pass across the six yard box to discover nobody has joined in the fun. Walcott is caught offside as he tries to run behind the defensive line. Benfica are focusing attacks down the right now, which is where Maitland-Niles happens to be.

Maitland-Niles is (just "Niles" on his shirt) is knocked to the ground while trying to block a Benfica forward running directly at him... and he is then hopelessly out-muscled for another challenge. Arsenal deal with the danger though and have a counter-attack on. Iwobi leads the charge, Walcott joins in... and Cesar catches the cross.

We're back! 

Calum Chambers is here to brighten up your day. He's replacing Rob Holding at centre-back.

Benfica make a change too. Jardel is off and Lisandro Lopez is off, another centre-back swap.

Reiss Nelson is a tidy, nippy wee player, Kolasinac is very good at doing the football and Walcott is taking up very central positions when Arsenal attack down the left. Perhaps too central, Clive - where was Giroud on those? 

The three man defence still doesn't seem to have made Arsenal particularly stable at the back either. At least we've been treated to goals.

Another thing to note is that Mertesacker looks a couple of yards off the pace. That's fine when he has to anticipate because he's great at reading the play, but when youngsters make mistake, he doesn't have the speed to react to trouble as it develops. That's risky in an Arsenal back three.

What a splendid half of pre-season football that was! It was almost... dare I say it... competitive. A deserved draw. Arsenal good in attack, poor at the back. So what's new with you? 

That's a photo of Benfica's first goal, which went between Mertesacker's legs, bounced off both and flew into the net. Benfica have the momentum now. Iwobi pulls off a lovely little bit of skill on the left but doesn't come away with the ball. It still looked cool and that's what counts.

Arsenal 2 - 2 (Salvio 40') Benfica

Dreadful defending from Arsenal. Mertesacker's rushed pass is woeful but Maitland-Niles attempt at passing forwards under pressure is worse and he hands possession to Benfica, who have men over. Arsenal's defence is pulled apart easily and Salvio hits one at goal that deflects off the lunging Holding and beats Ospina. Amateur hour for the defenders.

Holding makesa  mistake, Benfica pound on it, and Pizzi has space and time in the box to shoot! He's closed down but gets his shot away... and Ospina parries. Walcott heads behind for a corner, which comes to nothing. 

Elneny has been pinging a mixture of passes around since coming on, and is directing the midfield around. And he's almost set up Walcott for a hat-trick but just puts a little too much on the chipped pass. Great vision to see the run.

More bad news for all you Coquelin fans. That was his last involvement in the game. He's been substituted for Mohamed Elneny.

Kolasinac has been brilliant on the left for Arsenal so far in this match. 

 Arsenal 2 (Walcott 33')- 1 Benfica

It's a second for Walcott and a brilliant little team goal. Coquelin creates it this time, playing a neat one-two in the area, running onto the return and playing a pass across the six yard box. Again, Walcott can't miss.

Walcott's free-kick is awful. He strikes it low into the wall and Xhaka's attempted long range power hoof also hits a defender. Eventually Benfica win a goal kick. 

Nelson gives possession away cheaply with a poor attempt at a through-ball chipped around a defender. Nelson prevents a corner at the flat, nips away with it, tries to go past two defenders and is brought down but play continues. He's giving a good impression of himself here!

This is a nice passing move by Benfica as they try to stretch Arsenal in the final third but they've given it away and Walcott flies forward! He has two players to beat but has the pace to do so... and Luisao comes across to stop him and sends Walcott flying on the edge of the box. Close to being a penalty... but the free-kick is correct. Walcott wants to take it.

 Arsenal 1 (Walcott 24')- 1 Benfica

It's Walcott! The best striker in world football. Kolasinac makes the goal, refusing to give up on it as a defender attempts to shield the ball for a goal kick, tucks his foot around said defender and then scoops a pass to Walcott, who can't miss with the shot. 

Bad new Coquelin fans, he might have picked up an injury. He gets treatment on the ground while he holds his leg, just below the shin pad, but the Arsenal physio, who looks exactly like Gale in Breaking Bad, is checking his knee. He's not walking in a particularly happy way either. 

A bit of running later and he seems to be OK, although keeps looking down at his leg and stretching it out.

Salvio has to burn away from his man on the right wing but he's well looked after and Arsenal again move the ball quickly up the pitch.

And Walcott is in space! A massive chance to score! But he completely shanks it and the ball dribbles wide of the post. He was offside too. 

Salvio tries to past Kolasinac and appears to be held in place but doesn't win a free-kick. Arsenal move the ball up the pitch quickly but it slows down in the final third. Nelson skips past Cervi with a really clever change of pace and then slides in to win the ball back to roars from the crowd. 

Arsenal are a little disjointed at the moment. Holding passes the ball straight out for a throw-in, Coquelin has to go backwards from near the Benfica final third. But now Nelson is on the attack! He gets to the box, cuts back, crosses... and Benfica clear.

Arsenal 0 - 1 (Cervi 12') Benfica

Benfica take the lead! Poor Arsenal defending as Jonas nips into the box with about a 20 yard head start on Mertesacker, who can't get close, heads it back and Cervi hits one left footed at goal. Ospina's going to save it until the ball deflects off Mertesacker and beats him. 

Walcott comes inside, draws the challenge and skips around it - another thing he doesn't usually do. Is this Walcott 2.0? I do actually think Walcott is a good player, by the way. In case you think I'm being overly harsh on him. 

Iwobi tries to light things up in the final third but overruns the ball, Kolasinac gets forward but Giroud can't control the pass fired into him. Holding fouls Seferovic and Benfica have a chance to keep the ball for a bit.

I take it back about Walcott. That's a very clever chipped pass for Giroud, who should have scored. Walcott has the ball just inside the box, moves it onto his left foot and dinks it into space for Giroud to attack. 

Cesar might have hurt himself while closing down the striker. He's receiving medical attention at the moment.

Arsenal are playing in their now traditional three man defence. Nelson is playing wide right and has been nipping up and down the wing a few times already, Coquelin and Xhaka patrolling the space in front of the centre-backs. It's quite a high tempo game too, which I didn't expect.

Giroud gets things started!

I can also reveal that I saw a lot of Benfica shirted people walking around London earlier today - a big number of this crowd is here to support the away team.

The teams are in the tunnel and getting ready to come out onto the pitch, broadcast in glorious full colour on QUEST TV! This is the day that Per Mertesacker dreamed of.

Incidentally, the club also offered free tickets to the Emirates Cup to all players in a charity football tournament held at the Arsenal Hub for survivors of Grenfell last weekend. 

Only Kolasinac gets to make a first home start at the Emirates today then. Lacazette has been decent since joining Arsenal and it's expected that Wenger will keep up his interest in Thomas Lemar to bring some more new talent to the club. Waiting in the wings, or more specifically the reserves, are a multitude of homegrown players waiting for their chance to break through! Maitlind-Niles' time is now.

I'm not sure that position is going to suit Walcott. He needs to be either on the wing or playing up top to run in behind defenders - as good a player as he is, he's not particularly great at passing the ball out of tight situations, nor seeing a through-balls to open up a defence.  

Julio Cesar! I'd forgotten about him. He's back in England and starts today because Benfica's first choice goalkeeper was sold to Man City earlier in the summer.

Benfica

Cesar, Buta, Luisao, Jardel, Eliseu, Augusto, Pizzi, Salvio, Cervi, Jonas, Seferovic

It's a three man defence for Arsenal. That's still a thing:

Arsenal

Ospina, Holding, Mertesacker, Kolasinac, Coquelin, Xhaka, Nelson, Maitland-Niles, Walcott, Iwobi, Giroud

What is it?

It's the Emirates Cup clash between Arsenal and Benfica, part of both clubs' pre-season efforts. The Gunners also play tomorrow (Sunday) against Sevilla.

When is it?

It's on Saturday July 29 - ie today.

What time is kick-off?

It's the lesser seen 16.20 BST kick-off.

What TV channel is it on?

It's on Quest TV. But don't worry, it's free to air and available on Freeview channel 37 or channel 92 for +1. It's also on Freesat channel 167 and Sky channel 144 or 195 (+1).

Alternatively, you can follow the action here.

What is the team news?

Bar Alexis Sanchez, Shkodran Mustafi (both still on holiday) and Gabriel, Wilshere and Cazorla (all injured), Arsenal have a fully-fit squad to choose from.

Arsene Wenger said earlier this week: "You’ll see everybody because I will play two teams. One of the most interesting parts of the Emirates Cup for me is that I can give 90 minutes to most of the players in the squad. I will try to do that."

What are they saying?

Arsene Wenger on who caught the eye on tour:

"Overall, I played players like Elneny in a back three and he has coped very well. Maitland-Niles sometimes played at centre back as well, even in the big games against Chelsea.

"You see their strengths and their weaknesses, and you learn a lot about your players and your combinations too.

"The advantage we have is that we have a good stability in our squad, so I already know who I can combine with who, more or less."

What are the odds?

• Arsenal - 1/2
• Benfica - 9/2
• Draw - 10/3

What's our prediction?

Pre-season is all about getting miles in the legs. So if it matters that much, Arsenal to win 2-0.