LIVE Arsenal vs Orlando City Football Match Score 21 July 2022
Arsenal have got off to an impressive start in pre-season and now prepare for their fourth test of the summer when they face Orlando City on Wednesday as part of the Florida Cup Series in the United States. The Gunners saw off Premier League rivals Everton in their first fixture of their pre-season tour over the weekend with a 2-0 win, and now look to extend their winning run to four games this summer. And they will attempt to achieve that against MLS side Orlando City, who currently sit fifth and in the play-off places in the Eastern Conference table after 21 games of the season, but will also be aiming to cause an upset here.
Orlando City vs Arsenal will kick-off at 00:30am (BST) on Thursday, July 21 at the Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Florida. This will be the first ever meeting between the two sides, although Arsenal have visited the United States on numerous occasions before, with the last trip coming in 2019 when they defeated Colorado Rapids 3-0 in a friendly, before competing in the International Champions Cup. The Gunners defeated Bayern Munich 2-1 in Los Angeles and Fiorentina 3-0 in North Carolina, before ending their tour with a 3-2 penalty shoot-out win against Real Madrid in Maryland, following a 2-2 draw that saw them finish fourth in the overall standings.
Orlando City will temporarily take a break from MLS action to welcome Arsenal to the Exploria Stadium for a friendly battle in the FC Series on Wednesday evening.
The hosts played out a 1-1 draw with Atlanta United at the weekend, while the Gunners began their pre-season tour of the United States with a 2-0 success over Everton.
The spring and summer months have brought a string of inconsistent results for Orlando in the Eastern Conference, as the Florida-based outfit were held to a second successive 1-1 draw against Atlanta United at the weekend.
A 10th minute opener from Mauricio Pereyra was cancelled out by Juan Sanchez Purata in a dissatisfactory result for Orlando, whose playoff bid still remains well and truly alive after 21 games of the 2022 campaign.
With 30 points taken from a possible 63, Orlando are still sitting pretty in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, but not since April have the hosts managed to march to consecutive MLS victories, and they have won just one of their last four in the division.
A 1-0 success over Inter Miami back on July 10 ended a dismal nine-game run at home without a clean sheet for Oscar Pareja’s outfit, whose last three draws at the Exploria Stadium have all come in friendlies, but Arsenal will be in no mood to share the spoils here.
The stark absence of a number of youngsters perplexed Arsenal fans when Mikel Arteta’s pre-season tour squad was announced earlier this month, but those present in Baltimore witnessed the Gunners’ experienced crop ease past Everton 2-0 for a third successive pre-season win.
After bagging a brace against Nuremberg on his debut, new arrival Gabriel Jesus fired home the opener against Everton in his first start following a sublime touch before turning provider for Bukayo Saka to fire home a second before the half-time whistle blew.
Three goals in two games has already seen Jesus endear himself to the Arsenal faithful – not to mention his tribute to Eddie Nketiah’s phone-call celebration – and Arteta’s side are now three for three in a productive pre-season period.
Chelsea and Sevilla still lie in wait for the Gunners as they end their exhibition campaign with two daunting challenges, but with 12 goals in their three summer friendlies so far, Arsenal’s youthful firing line are brimming with confidence.
Gooners have also celebrated the news of an imminent deal for versatile Manchester City man Oleksandr Zinchenko after Manchester United won the race to sign Lisandro Martinez, with Edu and the rest of the Arsenal hierarchy not resting on their laurels this summer.
Arsenal have taken their entire first-team squad to the United States, plus youngster Reuell Walters. Gabriel Jesus, who has been impressive in preseason so far following his switch from Manchester City, could receive another run-out. However, there are doubts over Fabio Vieira, Emile Smith Rowe, Kieran Tierney, Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu, who are struggling with injuries.
Mikel Arteta has revealed that he could have as many as FIVE players missing for the end of the club’s tour of the USA. Speaking after the win over Everton, Arteta said: “We have Kieran [Tierney] with a slight problem, we have Emile [Smith Rowe] with a muscular niggle, Tomiyasu as well & Ben [White]. “Vieira has a slight problem in his bone, hopefully he will start to train in the next week or so.” As for Orlando, goalkeeper Mason Stajduhar is out with a jaw injury and he’ll join ACL victim Gaston Gonzalez is being unavailable for this one.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said: “They are test matches so we want to try different things and get the boys up to speed physically. “We’re starting to build the minutes ready for the league and at the same time compete against two good teams. “We need to get the right impression and the right understanding, and then we start to be better as a team. They’re very talented, but at every point, every game has to be won. “We’ve been watching [Orlando]; we watched the game they played last Saturday and the previous Saturday. The squad has evolved a lot in the last few years, and it is a beautiful stadium so it should make for a good match.”
