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Arsenal suffered a chastening 3-1 pre-season defeat to Real Betis at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin — Kepa Arrizabalaga’s calamitous miss from a corner gifting the opening goal as all four goals arrived inside 43 minutes. Meanwhile, Bournemouth thrashed Serie A side Genoa 10-1 at their Performance Centre, Justin Kluivert scoring a hat-trick in their biggest-ever friendly win.
In Dublin, Kepa Arrizabalaga rushed off his line for a corner, missed the ball completely and watched Rodrigo Riquelme score at an empty back post. In Bournemouth, Justin Kluivert scored a hat-trick before half-time as the Cherries put ten past Genoa without mercy. Two very different afternoons of pre-season football — both worth noting before the season begins.
Arsenal 1–3 Real Betis — Aviva Stadium, Dublin (August 5)
Mikel Arteta named the same starting XI that had beaten Girona 4-1 in Spain at the weekend. Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka remain absent. William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes started the second half only. And in the first half, without their defensive pillars and with Kepa Arrizabalaga in goal, Arsenal were vulnerable in ways that a side preparing to defend their Premier League title cannot afford to be.
The opening goal was a gift. In the ninth minute, a Real Betis corner swung into the box, Kepa rushed off his line — and missed it entirely, crashing into the crowd beyond the near post. Rodrigo Riquelme brought the ball down on his chest at the back post and fired into the empty net.
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Worse followed. Christos Tzolis squandered a golden opportunity when Betis goalkeeper Álvaro Vallés passed the ball straight to him, only for the winger to fail to punish the error. Real Betis capitalised immediately. Nelson Deossa, collecting possession on the edge of the area, unleashed a 30-yard thunderbolt into the top-right corner. Two-nil to Betis, 26 minutes played.
Arsenal pulled one back. An inswinging corner from Tzolis found Piero Hincapie, who headed firmly over the line on 32 minutes to halve the deficit and offer the Dublin crowd brief hope. It lasted minutes. Kai Havertz misplaced a pass dangerously close to his own area, Pablo Fornals pounced and swept the ball into the bottom corner past a stationary Kepa on 43 minutes. All four goals had arrived in the first 43 minutes.
Arteta was direct afterwards: “The first half, we wanted two different things — play well and compete well. We did the first one quite well in a lot of moments. But the compete part, especially in and around our box, was not at our standards to win a football match against a good side. It’s always good when you lose a match in pre-season — it creates a bit more fire in the belly.”
Goals: Riquelme 9′, Deossa 26′, Fornals 43′ | Hincapie 32′ | Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Bournemouth 10–1 Genoa — AFC Bournemouth Performance Centre (August 4)
Bournemouth’s 10-1 dismantling of Serie A side Genoa was their biggest-ever winning margin in any friendly — and their third win from three under Marco Rose this pre-season. The game was played over four 30-minute periods at the club’s Performance Centre.
READ MORE: Pre-season results: Liverpool lose to Leeds, Man City beat K-League All Stars
Alex Scott opened the scoring on 13 minutes before Genoa’s Mikael Egill Ellertsson levelled early in the second period. From that point, Bournemouth were merciless. Justin Kluivert — who scored a hat-trick — restored the lead and added a second from the penalty spot to make it 3-1 by the hour mark. Adrien Truffert added a fourth. Scott scored his second. David Brooks converted a penalty. Daniel Jebbison fired emphatically into the top corner from Adam Smith’s driven cross to make it 7-1. Malcom Dacosta Gonzalez slammed home an eighth. Charlie Stevens set up Enes Ünal who tapped home for nine, before Ünal completed his brace to seal a historic 10-1.
Goals: Scott 13′, 47′, Kluivert (hat-trick, incl. 2 pens), Truffert 42′, Brooks 63′ pen, Jebbison 67′, Dacosta Gonzalez 80′, Ünal 85′, 90′ | Ellertsson (Genoa) | Venue: AFC Bournemouth Performance Centre
