Arsenal continued their pre-season preparations with a 3-1 defeat to Real Betis in Dublin, despite a first half strike from Piero Hincapie.

Next up it’s Borussia Dortmund on Sunday, August 9th as they play their first game of the summer on home soil.

First half XI: Kepa, White, Mosquera, Hincapie, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly, Havertz, Nwaneri, Dowman, Tzolis, Gyökeres

Arsenal almost took the lead within two minutes after Riccardo Calafiori cut through Betis and played Kai Havertz through, with the German squaring for Viktor Gyokeres who did well to adjust but his effort was denied by a point blank save from Alvaro Valles.

But it was the Spaniards who took the lead against the run of play after Kepa came and got absolutely nowhere near the ball from a corner (he did get a slight bump), before Rodrigo Riquelme slammed into an unguarded goal. 0-1.

Betis doubled their lead on the half hour mark when Kepa sliced a ball out of play under no pressure, before Pablo Fornals found Nelson Deossa in acres of space and the Colombian midfielder whacked a brilliant strike into the top corner. 0-2.

That was an obvious shock for Arsenal who put a nice move together when Max Dowman almost played Christos Tzolis through on goal, but from the resulting corner they found an equaliser when Piero Hincapie who took advantage of some more poor goalkeeping – this time from Valles – to head home on the goalline. 1-2.

Tzolis came into the club with a big reputation from set pieces and you could see his ability clearly there.

But Arsenal continued to give the ball away in dangerous areas and were punished again before half time, when Havertz sold Myles Lewis-Skelly short in midfield before Betis pounced and Pablo Fornals found the bottom corner from distance. 1-3.

You can never read too much into pre-season (this was Betis’ sixth game of the summer already) but there were basic mistakes being made in this half which I’m sure will have been highlighted at the break.

SECOND HALF

Arteta made a host of half time changes with Gabriel, Gabriel Martinelli, Fabio Vieira, Gabriel Jesus, Reiss Nelson, Marli Salmon and Louie Copley all coming on, replacing Hincapie, Havertz, Tzolis, Dowman, White, Mosquera and Gyokeres.

But less than ten minutes into the second half, Copley was forced off with what looked like a serious knee injury after a seemingly innocuous moment by the touchline. Fingers crossed he avoids a lengthly lay-off.

Three more changes were made on the hour mark with Ilan Meslier, Ife Ibrahim and Josh Ogunnaike replacing Kepa, Lewis-Skelly and Calafiori.

Meslier was needed just minutes after coming on, saving a close range backheel from Isco after Betis moved the ball around nicely, before Jesus shot just wide after Martinelli did well to break forward and find the Brazilian making a late run from deep.

With 15 minutes left on the clock, Arteta made three more changes with Brayden Clarke, Ceadach O’Neill and Ismeal Kabia coming on for Gabriel, Nwaneri and Martinelli.

Betis had some late moments with the game fizzling out but a mix-and-match Arsenal side didn’t really have anything to fight back, and this will be an easy one to chalk off with other games approaching.