London: Premier League champions Arsenal saw their sub-par pre-season form persist as defensive lapses handed Borussia Dortmund a 3-2 victory in the Emirates Cup on home soil on Sunday.

The German visitors seized an early two-goal cushion through Samuele Inacio in the seventh minute and 18-year-old talent Konstantinos Karetsas in the 29th minute. Arsenal created several openings throughout the contest, including a first-half effort from Viktor Gyokeres that struck the woodwork.

The Gunners mounted a second-half response when Ethan Nwaneri reduced the deficit in the 54th minute. However, Joane Gadou restored Dortmund's two-goal cushion four minutes later. Gyokeres converted a 69th-minute penalty to keep Arsenal in contention, but the German side held firm to secure the win.

The setback marks Arsenal's second straight defeat following a 3-1 loss to Real Betis, which came after an initial 4-1 victory over Girona. With just a week remaining before their FA Community Shield clash against Manchester City, the London club faces defensive areas requiring attention.

Speaking after the match, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta voiced his frustration, as quoted by Sky Sports: "We lost the game, obviously not happy about it. Things obviously have to be improved. Certain players need to get more minutes and rhythm, which is going to be really helpful."

"It has to hurt, whether it is a friendly match, a test or whatever you want to call it. But yeah, we know where we are. We know that we are missing still a lot of players and some players that haven't had enough training. And yeah, sometimes losing is good," he noted.

"We conceded some poor goals the other day, some poor goals today, in the way we competed, especially. But that's a very collective responsibility. So, we need to improve with the players that we have. And we want to improve, for sure we will," Arteta concluded.

ANI