Club-record signing Alexandre Lacazette scored on his debut to help Arsenal to a 2-0 win over Sydney FC at the ANZ Stadium in their opening pre-season friendly.
The France international, who joined from Lyon in a £46.5m deal last week, came on as a second-half sub and netted 15 minutes later to mark his first appearance with a goal.
Per Mertesacker had earlier found a way through against the reigning A-League champions, though it took until seven minutes from time to kill the game off thanks to Lacazette’s poacher instincts.
The visitors opened their scoring account for the summer with less than five minutes on the clock, courtesy of a smart hooked finish from Mertesacker to help Mesut Ozil’s uncleared corner past Andrew Redmayne.
Arsenal were carving their opponents open at ease for much of the first half, testing Redmayne on a couple more occasions through close-range attempts from Theo Walcott and Francis Coquelin.
Despite all their dominance, the Premier League outfit could well have been pegged back 34 minutes in as, from their only serious attack of the half, Sydney hit the post through Matt Simon’s sliding shot after Joshua Brillante’s effort was parried into his path.
The second half proved to be slightly more evenly matched but it was still Arsenal who were creating the better openings, seeing chances.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Eddie Nketiah were next to come close, the latter hitting the post from his hooked volley in the final 10 minutes, but the Gunners did have a deserved second late on.
Iwobi pulled the ball back and Lacazette was waiting from seven yards out to divert the ball past Redmayne, ensuring that Arsenal are up and running with a convincing win.