What Martin Zubimendi did vs AC Milan as new Arsenal arrivals start strong before Gyokeres signs

Martin Zubimendi shone on his first showing in front of the Arsenal fan baseas the Gunners beat AC Milan. Bukayo Saka gave the Gunners the lead after a brilliant cross from Jakub Kiwior from the left, the England winger volleying his shot into the ground before it found the side netting.

Mikel Arteta did not select what would be his best XI on paper. Instead, he mixed and matched some guaranteed starters with those expected to be more so on the bench in the biggest of games should everyone be fit. But there are expectations that the Gunners need to find more from their manager regarding rotation, so it was a valuable exercise.

The Gunners had three new signings involved on the day in the form of Christian Norgaard, Zubimendi and Kepa Arrizabalaga. football.london was watching all three extra carefully to provide insight on their performances.

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Christian Norgaard

Playing for Brentford compared to Arsenal is a completely different kettle of fish and the Norwegian initially took some time to get to grips with the change in style. There were a couple of misplaced passes and a few rash movements, desperate to win the ball.

However, as the first half progressed, the Dane grew into the match and found some good moments for the team. A dangerous cross toward the back post was curled in, which was well-defended in the end.

He was responsible for finding Ethan Nwaneri on the edge of the box before the English youth international’s dangerous volley at goal that was tipped round the post. He tried a cheeky flick to Bukayo Saka in the box which sadly did not pay off.

Martin Zubimendi

Started the second half quietly, not through any fault of his own, however. He was seen making some interesting runs forward, even beyond that of Martin Odegaard.

He combined with Odegaard in the box as the Gunners attempted some of their trademark short-passing play to find an opening. We saw an example of his direct passing when, from inside his own half, he drove a low ball through to Odegaard on the right – he managed this a couple of times in the game.

He also made a good tackle on Leao inside his own box, before clearing to deny a corner too. A nice scooped forward pass aimed at Leandro Trossard helped win a corner.

Then he found a brilliant pass through the left half-space for Reiss Nelson, weighted beautifully to beat the Milan defenders and find the winger, whose cross was blocked. Scored his penalty comfortably in the shootout too, a really good first showing from him.

Kepa Arrizabalaga

Coming on at half-time to replace David Raya, Kepa Arrizabalaga got his first opportunity in an Arsenal shirt. His first action really was taking a shot from Leao, who did not impress despite some links to Arsenal, with a strike straight into the Spaniard's arms, which he took well.

Kepa managed to get a very good save after guessing the right way from Lorenzo Colombo, diving to his left, which would begin a string of saves. He stopped the fourth and fifth to take the shootout to sudden death, both excellent saves to his left and down low, particularly the fifth.

After a number of penalties being scored for both sides, eventually Marli Salmon’s skied penalty proved the difference between the two sides in the shootout. Kepa facing down Christian Comotto, dived a little too early and saw the ball fall to his right as he dived left.