Arsenal kicked off the Mind Series in an entertaining 2-1 loss at home to Chelsea.
The Blues took the lead twice as goals from Kai Havertz and Tammy Abraham secured an impressive with for Thomas Tuchel’s side. Granit Xhaka was on the scoresheet for the Gunners.
Both sides field strong XIs, with the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Thomas Partey starting for Arsenal. New signing Ben White making his debut for the Gunners.
For the Blues, Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech starred for the UEFA Champions League winner as the visitors tormented a shaky Arsenal side.
Whilst it was a pre-season friendly, it was a performance to forget for Mikel Arteta’s side. Bernd Leno was nervous in between the sticks, whilst Rob Holding and Hector Bellerin created errors which Chelsea scored from.
However, one player who impressed for Arsenal against Chelsea was Pablo Mari.
The £14m 2020 signing was defensively sturdy for the Gunners, and the Spaniard was key to preventing Timo Werner from scoring an early goal.
Indeed, Mari is one of the few players in the Arsenal squad whose future at the club is all but assured. And on social media, supporters are happy with what they saw from the former Flamengo star.
Here’s what some Arsenal fans had to say about Mari’s performance against Chelsea on Twitter…
https://twitter.com/mirahonthewaII/status/1421850552707665922
https://twitter.com/PengemisBLT/status/1421845731254673411
https://twitter.com/_kaar3/status/1421839548976353281
https://twitter.com/Krzysztof_Rx/status/1421847315250356225
https://twitter.com/Bolee_9/status/1421839905324507136
https://twitter.com/ngbhawks/status/1421839375202201602
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