Emirates Cup 2013

After a years break due to the London 2012 Olympics the pre-season Emirates Cup returned as hosts Arsenal welcomed Napoli, Galatasaray and Porto to London.

Galatasaray 1-0 Porto: The first game saw Turkish side Galatasaray play Portuguese side Porto. They are both well renowned teams and it proved to be a great game. Only one goal was scored but it was a tale of 3 penalties. Porto missed two of theirs. Jackson Martinez saw his saved by Muslera and then Lucho Gonzalez pulled his wide. However Galatasaray put their penalty away. After former Arsenal favourite Eboue was fouled, Felipe Melo stepped up to find the back of the net.

Arsenal 2-2 Napoli The second game of the tournament saw the hosts Arsenal in action against Italian side Napoli. The away side went 2-0 up after goals from Insigne and Pandev. However the Gunners came back fighting. Olivier Giroud scored a bicycle kick before the Gunners man of the match Laurent Koscielny headed home from a free-kick. Former Madrid man and Arsenal target Higuain was welcomed to boo's from the Emirates crowd but he failed to get on the scoresheet.

Napoli 1-3 Porto: The second day saw Napoli play Porto in the first fixture of the afternoon. The victors were Porto as they came from a goal down to win 3-1. Pandev opened the scoring for Napoli as he grabbed his second of the tournament. However, goals from Ghilas, Fernandez (og) and Lima secured the win for the Portuguese side.

Arsenal 1-2 Galatasaray: It was then Arsenal's turn once more. If they won then they'd win the competition. The match gave us a chance to see new signing Yaya Sanogo given his debut and also Santi Cazorla back in action. The Gunners went into the break a goal to the good after Walcott's attempted cross found the back of the net. However the second half's performance wasn't great. Former nemesis Didier Drogba dived to win a penalty which he then converted to equalise and then scored the winner which saw Galatasaray lift the Emirates Cup.

It was a far from perfect weekend for Arsenal as they finished third in the table ahead of Napoli and behind Porto and Galatasaray. With our final pre-season game next week against Man City there is still plenty of work to do on the pitch and off it. Suarez, a defensive midfielder and maybe a goalkeeper would do nicely.