Viktor Gyokeres made his Arsenal debut from the bench but could not prevent his new side from falling to a 1-0 pre-season friendly defeat to rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
The 27-year-old Sweden striker completed his £55m transfer from Sporting Lisbon on Saturday and was presented to fans ahead of the Gunners’ 3-2 win over Newcastle in Singapore the day after.
Gyokeres only had limited training time with his new club prior to the game in Hong Kong, but Mikel Arteta sent the striker on with 13 minutes remaining.
Arteta made five changes at 77 minutes, with the logical swap seeing Kai Havertz make way for Gyokeres in attack.
Gyokeres was unable to make an impact following Pape Matar Sarr’s opener in the first half, which saw the Spurs midfielder’s long-range effort catch David Raya out of goal.
The Sweden international had one touch inside the box during his cameo, though Arsenal largely struggled to create opportunities and bring their new forward into the game.
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The forward was one of two new arrivals to make their debut, with centre-back Cristhian Mosquera also coming on after making a £15m move from Valencia. The pair have followed Martin Zubimendi, Noni Madueke, Christian Norgaard and Kepa Arrizabalaga through the door at the Emirates Stadium.
Gyokeres’ arrival has been met with overwhelming joy by the Arsenal supporters after firing Sporting to back-to-back Portuguese titles, scoring 68 goals in 66 league appearances.
The former Brighton and Coventry player netted 97 times in 102 outings in all competitions during his two seasons in Lisbon, including registering a Champions League hat-trick against Manchester City last term.
