Arsenal will start their preparation for the new Premier League season with a fixture against Ligue 2 side RC Lens later this month, on the 22nd July.
The Gunners will travel across the channel to Northern France, with kick-off at 8pm local time. Tickets for the game went on sale earlier today, and can be purchased from the official club website.
Back again
This match will be the North London side’s first trip to Lens’ Stade Bollaert-Delelis since 20 April 2000, where goals from Thierry Henry and Nwankwo Kanu sealed a 2-1 UEFA cup victory.
In total, the Gunners have won two, lost one and drawn one of their previous four games against Sang et Or.
The handwork begins
Arsene Wenger’s side began pre-season training on Monday this week, however there were some absentees, with Mesut Ozil, Olivier Giroud, Laurent Koscielny and Aaron Ramsey all involved in Euro 2016 semi-finals with Germany, France and Wales respectively. £30million signing Granit Xhaka was also missing, as he continues to rest after competing in the Euros with Switzerland.
After the trip to Lens, Arsenal continue their preparations in the United States were they will face up against the MLS all-stars at the Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California, and they will be hoping for a better result than the one they got on their last trip to the States, when they lost to the New York Redbulls.
A few days after this game they face Chivas de Guadalajara at the Stubhub Centre before heading to Sweden, completing their pre-season against Viking FK and Premier League rivals Manchester City.
After that the competitive fixtures begin as Arsenal welcome Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool to Emirates Stadium on the 14 August.
Arsenal’s full pre-season fixture list:
RC Lens, Stade Bollaert-Delelis - 22 July
MLS All-stars, Avaya Stadium, 28 July
Chivas de Guadalajara, Stubhub Centre, 31 July
Viking FK, Viking Stadion - 5 August
Manchester City, Ullevi Stadium - 7 August