Ben White has made his long-awaited debut for Arsenal.
Well, the Gunners only signed the guy on Friday, but that in itself was a long time coming after much speculation about his move to the Emirates Stadium for most of the summer.
But Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta gave him his bow this afternoon in a pre-season friendly against Chelsea, introducing him for the second half.
It’s difficult for a defender to really stand out in pre-season affairs, but the 23-year-old did just that with a sublime goal-saving block to stop Chelsea from making it 2-0 midway through the second 45 minutes.
It was a fine debut on the whole for the former Brighton & Hove Albion centre-back, who set the North Londoners back a steep £50 million.
Here’s how some Arsenal fans are reacting on Twitter:
How did the match pan out?
Kai Havertz fired the European champions into a 1-0 half-time lead, but Granit Xhaka, who replaced the injured Thomas Partey, rose highest to power home a fine header on 69 minutes.
But Arsenal-linked Tammy Abraham restored the Blues’ lead shortly after that in cool fashion, amid speculation about a move to the Emirates Stadium.
It was a mistake from Hector Bellerin – who had only just been introduced – which led to Abraham firing the visitors ahead.
And in the end it was that error by the Spaniard which cost his side, with Arteta’s troops failing to equalise – albeit controversially after Joe Willock seemingly had a legitimate goal chalked off.
Still, it’s only a friendly and there was a lot of positives for Arsenal on the day – and White’s second-half showing was perhaps the biggest.
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