Rangers 2-2 Arsenal: Steven Gerrard's side hold Gunners in pre-season workout

Nuno Tavares, the Portuguese left-back signed from Benfica and making his Gunners debut, rifled in a leveller from close range on 22 minutes

Saturday 17 July 2021 20:12, UK

Rangers twice threw away the lead to draw 2-2 with Arsenal in their Ibrox friendly as the Gunners remained winless on their tour of Scotland.

Around 2,000 Gers fans returned to the Govan stadium for the first time since coronavirus restrictions began in March 2020, and they cheered defender Leon Balogun opening the scoring in the 14th minute with a header from a James Tavernier corner.

Nuno Tavares, the Portuguese left-back signed from Benfica and making his Gunners debut, rifled in a leveller from close range on 22 minutes, before Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who missed an earlier chance, headed a cross from
Cedric Soares wide.

Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor was then called into action to save from Folarin Balogun.

After Jermain Defoe pulled up and limped off to be replaced by Scott Wright, defender Calvin Bassey cleared a close-range shot from Aubameyang off the line.

Arsenal, managed by former Gers midfielder Mikel Arteta, made five interval substitutions, one of which saw the introduction of former Celtic defender Kieran Tierney.

McGregor made saves from Thomas Partey and Emile Smith Rowe as the slick-moving north London side continued to dominate the ball before both sides made a host of changes.

Rangers striker Cedric Itten headed in a corner from fellow substitute Glenn Middleton in the 75th minute and another replacement, Stephen Kelly, blasted a shot straight at Arsenal substitute 'keeper Karl Hein.

However, in the 83rd minute, Arsenal substitute Eddie Nketiah levelled with a drive from 10 yards after slack defending from the home side, although from an Ibrox perspective, with a new league campaign and Champions League qualifiers looming, the injury to Defoe will perhaps be more of a worry.

What the manager said...

Mikel Arteta said: "I'm really pleased with the performance. I think we dominated the game, we created so many chances - I counted about eight or 10 clear chances to score. But this game is decided in both boxes. We were not clinical in the opponent's box and we conceded two goals from two corners, which were the only chances they had apart from the counter-attack from our own corner.

"So much better from the other day and you tell that physically we were already better in the second game, the organisation was better, individually they played better, but I really liked the collective understanding of the game and how we executed a lot of things we have been working on in the training pitch."

Arsenal fixtures 2021/22: Gunners start with Bees & Chelsea

Arsenal will start their 2021/22 Premier League campaign away at newcomers Brentford on Saturday August 14.

Mikel Arteta's side, who finished a disappointing eighth in the Premier League table, then have a London derby at the Emirates against European champions Chelsea on August 21, before going to current champions Manchester City on August 28.

Arsenal's first north London derby comes on the weekend of September 25 at home to Tottenham, while the return fixture will be on the weekend of January 15 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

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