Arsenal 4-0 defeat against Championship side Queens Park Rangers in a behind-closed-doors friendly on Thursday. But Mikel Arteta has two positive takeaways from the trip to west London that provide his squad with a boost ahead of another Premier League title run-in.
Takehiro Tomiyasu and Thomas Partey reportedly built on their recent returns to action as the sole two first-team stars who featured in a four-goal thrashing at QPR.
According to Football.London, Arteta took a squad containing mostly U21 players across the capital city, but Tomiyasu and Partey were involved.
On Wednesday, Arsenal announced that the former had signed a new long-term contract at the Emirates Stadium days after Ben White committed his future to the club.
The Japanese right-back reportedly played the first half, while Partey also started and played for just over an hour before making way.
Partey has succumbed to a series of muscle problems, playing just 366 minutes of football all campaign.
Both made their returns to action this month, though, and are building up their fitness to play an important role in the coming months.
Against QPR, Ovie Ejeheri (20) started in goal. Tomiyasu started alongside Joshua Nichols (17), Josh Robinson (19) and Taylor Foran (20) in defence.
Partey lined up with Myles Lewis-Skelly (17) and Jimi Gower (19) in midfield, with Amario Cozier-Duberry (18), Nathan Butler-Oyedeji (21) and Osman Kamara (17) as the front line.
