Joel Campbell, Alex Iwobi braces as Arsenal rout Viking FK
Joel Campbell and Alex Iwobi both scored twice as Arsenal breezed to a 8-0 win over Norwegian side Viking on Friday, while Theo Walcott also netted his first goal of the preseason.
The Gunners led 1-0 at the break and then pulled away with four goals in a 10-minute span early in the second half as their Norwegian opponents crumbled.
Campbell opened the scoring when he slid in to steer Mohamed Elneny's goalbound header into the net in the 33rd minute, then made it 5-0 with a hard strike that went in off the underside of the crossbar.
Viking put up little resistance in the second half as Santi Cazorla made up for his early missed penalty by making it 2-0 with a long-range strike in the 50th minute and Walcott added the third with a composed finished just two minutes later.
Walcott started as the lone striker again despite saying this week that he wants to return to the right wing this season, and had missed a couple of good chances before getting his goal. He had gone scoreless in Arsenal's first three preseason games.
Michael Hauskas scored an own goal in the 55th before Campbell's second four minutes later, and Iwobi continued the rout with goals in the 71st and 81st after coming on as a substitute. Chuba Akpom got in on the action by slotting in a rebound in the final minutes.
Cazorla should have put the visitors ahead after just three minutes but his penalty was saved by Viking goalkeeper Iven Oustboe after Mathieu Debuchy had gone down easily in the box.
Oustboe also denied another Elneny header with a good one-handed save to keep Arsenal at bay.
With Arsenal playing Manchester City in Gothenburg, Sweden, on Sunday, Arsene Wenger rested most of his first-choice players but was still able to enjoy a comfortable victory.
Alexis Sanchez and Aaron Ramsey didn't dress for the game after only returning to training this week, but are likely to feature against Man City as Wenger tries to get them ready for Arsenal's season opener against Liverpool the following Sunday.
Centre-back Gabriel Paulista was back after missing the team's U.S. tour with tonsillitis, signalling that he should be fit for the Liverpool game as the Gunners cope without long-term absentee Per Mertesacker.