Arsenal held to 1-1 draw by Watford in first pre-season friendly as Arteta ramps up Premier League title preparations

MARQUINHOS was on target for Arsenal as they drew 1-1 with Watford in their first pre-season match.

The game took place at London Colney with Mikel Arteta selecting a strong starting line-up.

Gabriel Jesus lined up in attack alongside Leandro Trossard and Eddie Nketiah, who missed a chance to put his side 1-0 up in the first half.

Watford instead opened the scoring through Ismael Kone and held onto their lead until ten minutes after half-time.

Arteta made nine changes at the break including the introduction of Marquinhos, who slotted home a rebound after youngster Amario Cozier-Duberry was denied.

Arsenal also included first-choice defenders Ben White and Gabriel from the off, as well as Cedric Soares and Rob Holding, who played a role in the equaliser.

While Reiss Nelson played his first minutes since signing a new long-term contract with the club.

William Saliba has also put pen to paper on a new deal worth £220,000 a week.

In other transfer news the Gunners are on the verge of finalising Jurrien Timber's transfer after he completed a medical.

The North Londoners reached an agreement with the Dutch giants to sign the 22-year-old this week.

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The arrival of Timber will take Arsenal's summer spending to £98million - £65m of which they spent on signing Kai Havertz from Chelsea.

But that fee is set to rise to a whopping £203million when they complete the signing of Declan Rice from West Ham.

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