Toon target Joe Willock has been in action for Arsenal over the weekend – and can count himself VERY unlucky to not be on the scoresheet in their narrow defeat to Chelsea yesterday.
After missing out on three of their previous four pre-season friendlies this summer, the former NUFC loanee came on at The Emirates in their Sunday afternoon friendly against Chelsea.
He impressed in his 20-minute cameo, but will feel very hard done by after his 82nd minute strike smashed the underside of the crossbar and clearly crossed the line – only for officials (and the lack of VAR) to wave away appeals.
Here’s the ‘goal’ itself, with replays showing after that it clearly should’ve stood:
Chelsea went on to win the game 2-1 as a result, with Kai Havertz and Tammy Abraham scoring either side of Granit Xhaka’s equaliser.
One potential bit of bad news in Bruce’s hunt to re-sign Willock is that fellow midfielder Thomas Partey limped off in the first half with an injury that could now keep him out for ‘4-6 weeks’.
Could this impact Mikel Arteta’s decision regarding a summer sale or second loan deal? Let’s hope not.
Here’s what Willock’s pre-season minutes have looked like so far since he returned from Newcastle:
- July 13th – Hibernian 2-1 Arsenal – Not involved
- July 17th – Rangers 2-2 Arsenal – Played 28 minutes from the bench
- July 24th – Arsenal 4-1 Millwall – Not involved
- July 28th – Arsenal 4-1 Watford – Not involved
- August 1st – Arsenal 1-2 Chelsea – Played 20 minutes from the bench
I’m an Arseanal fan and I sort-of hope Willock goes to the Toon. He’s a great player who deserves regular first team football. Just hope he doesn’t score against us!
Ian(Quote)