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Eurosport has heard a lot about Arsenal signing Amaury Bischoff - so we took a look for ourselves in his first outing in a red shirt for the reserves against Stoke City.

Bischoff, 21, chose to leave Werder Bremen after making his debut in the UEFA Cup. He arrived injured and has a record of fitness concerns, with Gunners boss Arsene Wenger admitting at the time that his capture was a gamble in that regard.

The French-Portuguese midfielder was only expected to play the first 45 minutes at Barnet's Underhill ground, as reserve team coach Neil Banfield said before the game.

"He's having 45 minutes tonight because it's his first game," Banfield told Arsenal TV.

"He wants to give himself a run-out tonight for his own fitness.

"I've been very impressed with his technical qualities on the training pitch. He's a very, very good footballer.

"It's going to take him a long time to get back to full fitness; but this is the first step."

Our man got involved from the start, closing down quickly to win the ball with his first touch, but could only watch as Vincent Pericard scored a cracking opener for Stoke on four minutes from distance.

Undeterred, Arsenal looked to play the short passing game that characterises their senior side, with Bischoff playing a part in moves forward from his position to the right of centre.

What stuck out in these early stages was Bischoff's willingness to make runs both down the flank and inside to take a man away from the action and allow a team-mate space to cross - so important to Arsenal's tactics under Wenger - rather than demanding the ball constantly.

In the 11th minute he caught the eye for the first time when, picking up the ball in his own half, he led a counter-attack; at its end he looked to feed impressive 16-year-old Jack Wilshere down the channel, but his pass was intercepted.

There were battling qualities on show too from Bischoff. He tracked back to tackle in his own corner, winning a fortunate goal-kick, then minutes later went tearing after a ball that had gone out for a throw-in, diving over a barrier to retrieve it.

That hunger was shared by his young Arsenal team-mates - assisted by fellow debutant Mikael Silvestre - as they sought a way back into the match. Bischoff instigated a lovely passing move with a one-two that finished with Rui Fonte's deflected shot dropping just over the bar.

He lacked something in his touch at times however, such as when he reached the right byline only to centre a low ball that was easily dealt with by the no-nonsense Stoke defence led by captain Ryan Shawcross, a first-team regular.

His involvement in passing moves was continuous without another standout contribution until the home side's equalising goal. Francis Coquelin made and finished it, coming in from the right and feigning to shoot before smashing the ball inside the near post from more than 20 yards.

In the 36th minute, his tail up following his side's strike, Bischoff drove forward in the Stoke half and, with the pitch opening up before him, curled a shot a few feet wide of the upright: right idea, poor execution.

With time supposedly ticking down on Bischoff's involvement Shawcross crashed into him in the middle of the park, leaving him in a heap. Barely half a minute later Wilshere cut in near the edge of the visitors' box and the centre-half did the same to him - earning a yellow card.

Wenger will have been pleased to see his summer signing get to his feet and even more chuffed when Mark Randall's free-kick was blocked by the arm of Danny Pugh inside the area. Jay Simpson scored the penalty for a 2-1 half-time lead.

To our surprise Bischoff emerged for the second half and continued his good work for a further 12 minutes until Rhys Murphy replaced him; he was especially unlucky with another firm pass down the channel that was cut out following a quick break by Wilshere.

Stoke went on to equalise before Fonte finished clinically with six minutes left following a terrible error by Shawcross to give Arsenal the win - with the Potters down to 10 men.

Over to Banfield for the low-down: "We spoke to him [Bischoff] at half-time. I thought he done really well in the first half, so we told him do another 10 or 15 minutes."

Amaury Bischoff: Summary

Pace: 7/10

Dribbling: 8/10

Passing: 8/10

Crossing: 7/10

Movement: 9/10

Work-rate: 9/10

Decision-making: 8/10

Flair: 9/10

Current ability: 8/10

Potential ability: 9/10

Jonathan Symcox / Eurosport