Arsenal partake in their penultimate pre-season friendly of the summer, in the seventh annual Emirates Cup. The competition has boasted some of world football’s biggest names since it’s inception in 2007, this year proves to be no exception with Monaco and Valencia predocessing the home sides’ clash with Benfica on Saturday afternoon.
Due to World Cup, Arsene Wenger’s preparation for the campaign ahead has not been as vigorous as the Frenchman would have hoped. A win over neighbours Boreham Wood, a trip stateside to take on Thierry Henry’s New York Red Bulls and a training camp in Austria with new fitness coach Shayde Forsythe will have gotten players only fairly familiar with the pitch and with each other.
The Eagles have had an outstanding 2014, the Portuguese giants claimed their 33rd league title and latterly made it a double with the addition of the Taca de Portugal. However, there was one bitter pill to swallow in the form of a second consecutive defeat in the Europa League final, to Sevilla on this occasion. The core of the much acclaimed starting XI has been ripped apart in the last month as Ezequiel Garay, Rodrigo and Lazar Markovic have all decided the grass will be greener away from the Stadium of Light. The Lisbon club had fixtures with Sion and Shakhtar Donetsk cancelled before disappointing defeats to local rivals Sporting CP and Ajax respectively. Controversial head coach Jorge Jesus will be hoping to build on his team’s solitary pre-season win over Estoril against a club of Arsenal's caliber.
Fans will swarm into the famous stadium with the main intention of witnessing debuts for stellar signings Alexis Sanchez, David Ospina, Mathieu Debuchy and Southampton prodigy Calum Chambers. Gooners will especially be salivating at the prospect of watching former Barcelona winger Sanchez in the flesh, his £30m transfer has sent a real message out to the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea. Despite being in the middle of a three-year stint with the club, one man will be chomping at the bit to make his now eagerly anticipated home debut. 22-year-old Joel Campbell joined the ranks in 2011 but due to problmes with work permits, has not been able to play a part in the Arsenal set-up. With these issues and a stunning World Cup behind him, the Costa Rican is expected to don the famous red shirt for the first time against Benfica. Notable names for Os Encarnados include Bebe, Lima, Argentinian international Enzo Perez and the in demand Nicolas Gaitan.
FA Cup hero Aaron Ramsey said ahead of kick-off, “It’s a great test for us before the season starts, even though we’ll still be building up for then. It will be nice to get that competitive football.”
“It’s a great tournament. It gets all the fans excited because they know that the season is not too far away. It’s a good couple of days and all of the players are looking forward to coming back and playing at the Emirates again.”
Monaco will reunite with former manager Wenger on Sunday to decide who claims the trophy, whether Benfica and Arsenal will be in contention by then remains to be seen with points being awarded for every goal scored.
Prediction: Arsenal 2-1 Benfica