Indonesia Dream Team 0-7 Arsenal

By Chris Harris at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta

Olivier Giroud scored twice as Arsenal kicked off their Asia tour with a comfortable victory over the Indonesia Dream Team.

Theo Walcott converted Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's lay-off to give the tourists a half-time lead, Chuba Akpom opened his account for the first team and Giroud came off the bench to net twice in the space of three minutes before Lukas Podolski, Kris Olsson and Thomas Eisfeld all scored late on.

The match ticked all the right boxes as a useful training exercise against energetic, enthusiastic opponents - with Oxlade-Chamberlain perhaps the pick of Arsenal's performers.

But the result was not the whole story, of course. This was also about some 60,000 Arsenal fans - the vast majority of whom will never sample those 60,000 seats at Emirates Stadium - getting a long-awaited chance to watch their team in the flesh.

This was their moment and they made the most of it, bringing banners, streamers, horns and unconditional love on a sultry, humid Indonesia evening.

Every name, every clever flick and every key moment for both teams was cheered to the rafters - and everyone went home happy.

Arsene Wenger and his squad don't go home just yet. They head to Hanoi now for the second phase of the tour and they leave Indonesia with an abundance of good memories.

The manager did as he always does for his team's opening pre-season fixture, giving virtually his whole squad a chance to stretch their legs.

And Arsenal, sporting their new yellow and blue away kit for the first time, spent most of the game camped in the Indonesia Dream Team's half.

The tourists might have led after just 32 seconds but Akpom scuffed his shot wide from the edge of the box. The teenager went closer with a shot across goal in the seventh minute while Mikel Arteta saw a effort blocked.

The Dream Team had their moments. Ian Luis Kabes scampered clear down the left but failed to pick out a team-mate when a shot at goal might have served him better. Sergio van Dijk fired over from distance and captain Boaz Solossa volleyed a half-chance straight at Lukasz Fabianski.

But Arsenal controlled the game and took the lead in the 19th minute thanks largely to the pace and skill of Oxlade-Chamberlain. He burst clear in the right channel and threw his marker off balance with a neat dummy before laying the ball back for Walcott to ram low into the net.

Carl Jenkinson was inches from connecting with a Walcott cross as Arsenal continued to create chances, and Kieran Gibbs rippled the side-netting after Walcott's low ball in rolled invitingly for him on the edge of the box.

Oxlade-Chamberlain, put through by Akpom, lifted a shot over the bar from a narrow angle after evading the Dream Team keeper, Serge Gnabry curled a low effort marginally wide and Gibbs was just short of diverting Jenkinson's cross-shot into an unguarded net.

Laurent Koscielny, Eisfeld, Chuks Aneke, Kris Olsson and Gedion Zelalem came on at half-time and Koscielny nodded over a few minutes into the second period. Then Serge Gnabry skipped past a challenge on the left flank and crossed low for Akpom to tap home.

Fabianski had to be alert to grab a teasing cross from Vendri Mofu and the Dream Team substitute squandered a golden chance late in the second half - to the dismay of a hopeful Jakarta crowd.

By then Giroud, Tomas Rosicky, Podolski, Bacary Sagna and Damien Martinez had entered the fray and two of them combined for Arsenal's third, Sagna squaring for Giroud to finish nonchalantly from close range.

The French striker scored the goal of the game three minutes later, collecting a pass with his back to goal before turning smartly and smashing a shot in off the crossbar.

And there was time for Podolski, Olsson and Eisfeld to get on the scoresheet before a satisfying night ended with a presentation and one final lap of honour.

There were smiles all round and no wonder - the fans had seen their heroes, the Dream Team had played their dream opponents and Wenger's players had put on a show while taking a significant step towards full fitness.

Next stop Vietnam.