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Arsenal suffer pre-season injury blow as midfielder leaves the pitch with worrying issue
Aug 05 2026 22:48 · By www.football.london · 5 Reads
Arsenal suffered a 3-1 loss to Real Betis in pre-season on Wednesday evening, with matters going from bad to worse when one player required assistance to leave the pitch through injury
An injury to Louie Copley added injury to insult as Arsenal slipped to a 3-1 loss to Real Betis on Wednesday evening.
The Gunners took on the La Liga challengers at the Aviva Stadium as Mikel Arteta's pre-season preparations continued, expected to run out comfortable winners.
However, the North London outfit were handed a stark wake-up call instead, with a convincing loss under the bright lights of Dublin just weeks prior to their Premier League title defence getting underway.
Rodrigo Riquelme opened the scoring for Manuel Pellegrini's men just nine minutes into the match, before Nelson Deossa doubled Betis' lead a little over half-way through the opening 45.
While a towering header from Piero Hincapie gave the Gunners a glimmer of hope moments later, Pablo Fornals ultimately won the match for the Spaniards during first-half stoppage time.
A largely uneventful second-half saw no change in terms of score, however, Arsenal hearts will have sank when Copley went down with what appeared to be a major knee injury early on.
The 19-year-old, who was only introduced at the turn of the second period, went down just nine minutes into his stint after looking to have got his studs caught on the turf of the Aviva Stadium.
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Copley then received treatment on the pitch from Arsenal medical staff, before he hobbled off the pitch with assistance and straight down the tunnel for further evaluation.
While unlikely to play a major part in Arteta's plans for the coming season, it comes as a potentially huge blow to the youngster's development in north London.
Up next, Arsenal take on Borussia Dortmund in the Emirates Cup come Sunday, August 9.
One last pre-season friendly then plays out against Como on Wednesday, August 12 at the Emirates Stadium, ahead of Arsenal's Community Shield clash with Manchester City on Sunday, August 16.
The Gunners then take on Coventry City in their Premier League opener on Friday, August 21.