Gunners were denied a penalty in the second
half.
The Colombia international made his long-
awaited return from the knee ligament problem
that ruled him out of the World Cup with a
substitute appearance against Valencia on
Saturday, and headed in the opener just after the
half-hour mark.
With Valencia beating Benfica 3-1 earlier in the
day at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal's defeat
denied them the chance to regain the pre-season
tournament title but Arsene Wenger will have
been disappointed with Martin Atkinson's
baffling decision to award a free-kick instead of
a penalty when Chuba Akpom was fouled in the
area in the closing stages.
On a positive note, Wenger was able to hand a
debut to Mathieu Debuchy while seemingly
avoiding any injuries ahead of next week's
Community Shield.
Wenger was given a scare early on when Olivier
Giroud went down clutching his back, but the
striker was able to continue in what was a sedate
opening to the match.
Giroud and a supporting cast of Alexis, Aaron
Ramsey and Santi Cazorla failed to inspire a
sluggish Arsenal while Monaco's closest attempt
early on was a wayward Yannick Ferreira
Carrasco cross that almost caught out Wojciech
Szczesny.
Joao Moutinho almost opened the scoring when
he nudged Lucas Ocampos' delivery wide before
Ferreira Carrasco then let fly with an effort that
just crept over the crossbar.
After a tentative start, the chances then began to
arrive as Jack Wilshere forced a save from
Danijel Subasic before Falcao put Monaco ahead.
Wilshere conceded a free-kick following a late
tackle on Nabil Dirar before Colombian forward
Falcao lost his marker to nod home Moutinho's
delivery, scoring his first goal since January.
Subasic was then required to keep Wilshere's
strike out with a strong palm after nifty work
from Alexis as Arsenal started the second half
well.
Alexis - moved into the centre after Alex Oxlade-
Chamberlain had replaced Giroud at half-time -
looked increasingly threatening as he fired wide
from inside the area following a lay-off from
Cazorla.
With Falcao, Moutinho and Alexis all taken off
midway through the second half, both sides lost
a degree of quality in the attacking third as
Monaco were able to see out the win.
Leonardo Jardim's side were given a let off when
referee Martin Atkinson surprisingly awarded a
free-kick rather than a penalty for Subasic's foul
on Chuba Akpom, despite the contact appearing
to have been in the box, but the French side will
go into their Ligue 1 opener against Lorient next
Sunday off the back of a win.
For Arsenal, a lack of cutting edge ultimately
cost them - in contrast to Saturday's 5-1 win
over Benfica - with Wenger sure to demand an
improvement in the Community Shield curtain-
raiser against Manchester City in seven days'
time.
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