The Emirates Cup returns after missing a year due to work being done on the Arsenal pitch, and the Gunners have invited three sides that will be competing in the Champions League this season, even though we are going to be missing out on the Elite competition for the first time in 20 years. Benfica and Sevilla are well known to us already, and RB Leipzig were the runners up to Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga last season.
With the season starting in earnest the following week with the Community Shield against Chelsea, this is a great time for Wenger to fine tune his starting XI for the big game at Wembley. Mesut Ozil believes that facing top teams right now can only be good for the club’s preparations. “We want to test ourselves against big teams and if we play against strong opponents where we can show what we can do, it does the team good,” Ozil said on Arsenal.com.
“They are two technically-gifted teams who will give everything. Our aim has to be to get positive results against them and that’s what we want to do in the Emirates Cup.”
Arsenal face Benfica on Saturday and Sevilla on Sunday, and there will obviously be different teams playing to give everyone in the squad a chance to impress Wenger ahead of the Chelsea game the following weekend. I just love watching these games knowing that we will be returning to the serious stuff in just one more weeks time.
Come on you Gooners! Onwards and Upwards!
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