Viktor Gyokerres made his debut in Arsenal, but was powerless to prevent his new side from lighting up to a 1-0 defeat against Tottenham in the first northern derby of London to be played abroad.
Gyokerres, a signature of 55 million Sterling pounds by Sporting CP and fans of the Gunners man hopes to mark the goals to finally help them lift silverware, received the last 13 minutes in Hong Kong, but had little impression when the Spurs held.
Thomas Frank’s team won it thanks to the astonishing effort of 40 yards from Pope Sarr on the half-time and it was not more than they deserved despite spending large parts of the game on the back.
The Spurs brought the biggest threat to the future and hit the woodwork three times in the first half before Sarr strikes after capitalizing on an error by the defender of Arsenal Myles Lewis-Skelly.
The Guardian of the Gunners, David Raya, came out of his goal of playing a short pass at the back of England, but he was dispossessed by Sarr who triggered the ball with casually 40 yards on Raya and in the empty net.
It turned out to be enough during a fiery meeting which lost a little of its advantage in the first half due to the raft of substitutions during the game.
Tottenham under the cosh at the start
Arsenal flew out of the blocks with Martin Odegaard, seeing a deflected blow largely inside the 40 seconds of opening.
William Saliba then headed narrowly after Odegaard’s scratched shot fell gently for him in the box.
The Spurs had not done at all, but Frank’s men almost mentioned a goal of their first rating attack.
The corner of Pedro Porro derived through the box of six yards and against the distant post with the follow -up of Richarlison Blocked.
The Spurs were left to exhaust their unluckiness twice as much around half an hour.
Wilson Odobert’s first shot from the edge of the box struck the right and, from the resulting corner, the delivery of Mohammed Kudus returned from the post in a copy close to the previous effort.
It seemed that there would be no goals in an entertaining 45 -minute opening, but Sarr took advantage of his possibility of putting a deserved lead from the Spurs.
Gyokerres introduced but Arsenal fails to make a breakthrough
Arsenal led possession in the second half, but had a hard time creating a real chances of note.
Gabriel Martinelli turned while Martin Zubimenddi pulled a deflected blow just above the bar.
Arteta turned to Max Dowman, 15, before Gyokerres and the young person provided an equalizer, but his shot was blocked behind.
Gyokerres finally seemed to no, noisy acclamations of arsenal fans inside the Kai Tai stadium, but was unlikely to impress.
