Arsenal lift the Emirates Cup once again
Arsenal won the Emirates Cup for the third time in four years after beating Celtic 3-2 yesterday.
Arsenal topped the group with eight points, securing three for the win, one for the draw against AC Milan on Saturday and four bonus points for scoring four goals, which was a feature of the tournament.
Carlos Vela, Bacary Sagna and Samir Nasri put the Gunners 3-0 up, but two goals for Celtic in the last 18 minutes from Daryl Murphy and Ki Sung-Yueng gave them hope. A penalty miss from Georgios Samaras, which went shockingly over the bar, could have given them a share of the spoils, but ultimately Arsenal held on.
Jack Wilshire collected the man-of-the-match award, and Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger has backed the 18-year-old to break through into the first team and possibly play for England. “I believe he is stronger than last year, physically, and the few months he played at Bolton has given him something. He will be used at the club, of course,” said Wenger.
“Theo Walcott was at the World Cup at 17 years of age, he had not played one game in the Premier League, and it didn't kill him. To play at the top level, you have to deal with these kinds of situations,” he added.
Wilshire conceded a soft penalty, but Wenger said Wilshire learnt a lot from the weekend. “I believe he has done well in the last two games, he has shown as well that some things at this level you cannot afford to do, when he made [conceded] the penalty.”
Wenger was pleased with the overall performance on the weekend, but admits the team is not yet fully prepared. “I think it's a positive weekend because we have no big injuries and played quite well, seen two new players and some good young players. In both games we suffered in the last 20 minutes. I believe it's down to the fact that we work very hard and are not completely ready.”
Wenger also alerted England to look out for Emmanuel Frimpong, who played in both matches and made a good impression playing in a holding midfield role. “He's a bit less of a dribbler but he's a fighter and a winner. Here you have a boy who can choose between England and Ghana. So if I was in your [England’s] place, I would have no hesitation, and invite him to play very quickly for England.”
Both of Arsenal’s new signings Laurent Koscielny and Marouane Chamakh featured, with Chamakh scoring against AC Milan and Koscielny striking up a good partnership with regular centre-back Thomas Vermaelen.
Sagna, the scorer of the second goal, heaped praise on Chamakh. “He can make the difference because he is a good player, can keep the ball and score great goals. It will be very important to have a player like that in front of goal. I will trust him with the ball because he can keep it quite easily and it will give us help to come and support him.”
Celtic finished second in the tournament and took some positives away from the Emirates as they look to overturn a 3-0 deficit in their Champions League qualifier against Sporting Braga. Olympique Lyonnais finished third after a 2-2 draw with Celtic and a 1-1 draw against AC Milan, while AC Milan finished bottom.
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