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Kai Havertz and Tammy Abraham sent the Chelsea men’s team back to a friendly 2-1 pre-season victory over Arsenal on Sunday in the Emirates.
In what was a double header with the men’s and women’s teams competing to raise money for the charity Mind, the Arsenal women’s side beat their London rivals 2-1 in the previous match.
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Havertz opened the scoring in the first half before Granit Xhaka took one off for Arsenal after the break. However, the lead only lasted four minutes before Abraham secured second place from Chelsea.
Chelsea dominated possession for much of the game and were rewarded in the 26th minute when Timo Werner started a quick break and found Havertz whose right-footed shot passed Bernd Leno.
There was injury concern for Arsenal in the 40th minute when Thomas Partey was forced to stop. Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta said after the game Partey would have a scan on Monday but “at the moment it’s not looking good”.
While Partey’s situation is cause for concern for Arsenal, the game also saw the introduction of a new £ 50million signing, Ben White.
Xhaka scored Arsenal’s equalizer in the 69th minute as he returned home from a Nicolas Pepe cross.
The Switzerland international had been linked with a move to Rome, but Arteta said after the game he would stay with Arsenal this season.
“Granite is going to stay with us,” Arteta said. “He is a key member of our team.”
Chelsea weren’t down for long, however, and Abraham scored a powerful right-footed shot into the bottom corner to give them the lead in the 73rd minute.
At the start of the kickoff between the women’s teams, Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-1 with goals from Katie McCabe and Freya Jupp.
Reanna Blade had leveled things for Chelsea in 80 minutes, but Jupp, 17 – who was making his senior debut – was the star scoring the game-winning goal for Arsenal in 83 minutes.
McCabe gave Arsenal the lead in the 27th minute, but it was the young players who impressed.
There were injury concerns for both teams with Jordan Nobbs and Pernille Harder starting with punches.
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