Seeking to bounce back from their first pre-season loss on Saturday, Arsenal take on La Liga champions Barcelona at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Wednesday night.
The two teams meet for the first time since August 2019 when the Catalan giants secured a 2-1 friendly win over the Gunners at Camp Nou.
Match preview
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Following an unbeaten start to pre-season, with back-to-back 1-1 draws with Watford and Nuremburg followed by a thumping 5-0 win over an MLS All-Star XI, Arsenal tasted their first defeat of the summer at the hands of Premier League rivals Manchester United last weekend.
Gunners supporters were excited to see summer signings Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber selected together in the starting lineup for the first time since joining the club for a combined fee in excess of £200m.
However, last season's Premier League runners-up came up short against the Red Devils, who claimed a 2-0 victory in New Jersey courtesy of first-half strikes from Bruno Fernandes and Jadon Sancho, before Erik ten Hag's side won 5-3 in an exhibition penalty shootout.
Mikel Arteta acknowledged after the defeat that he was left encouraged by the midfield triumvirate of Rice, Havertz and captain Martin Odegaard, but the Spanish boss has admitted that there are 'a lot of things to improve on' as they edge closer to the new season.
Thursday's contest will see Arteta come face-to-face with familiar opponents in Barcelona, where he began his playing career back in 1999. The Gunners manager will be hoping to lead his side to their first victory over the Catalan giants in any competition since February 2011 when goals from Robin van Persie and Andrey Arshavin secured a 2-1 home win in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals – Arsenal went on to lose 4-3 on aggregate, though.
After facing Barcelona, Arsenal will return to North London for an Emirates Cup clash against Monaco next Wednesday, before preparing to lock horns with treble winners Manchester City in the Community Shield at Wembley Stadium on August 6.
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After claiming a routine 2-0 win over Vissel Kobe in their opening pre-season friendly, Barcelona were due to face Italian giants Juventus in California last Saturday.
However, the friendly was forced to be called off just nine hours before kickoff after a "a significant part of the Blaugrana squad" were diagnosed with the stomach illness viral gastroenteritis.
Various reports in Spain claim that as many as 15 first-team players have been affected by the virus, and the outbreak has somewhat derailed Xavi's pre-season plans ahead of the new season, in which they will endeavour to defend their La Liga crown and look forward to a return to Champions League action.
Xavi will be keen to see those available for selection regain their focus ahead of Wednesday's warm-up contest against Arsenal, whom they have beaten in each of their last four meetings across all competitions, three of which in the Champions League.
Barcelona's upcoming meeting with the Gunners will be followed by friendlies against Spanish rivals Real Madrid in Texas and AC Milan in Nevada, before concluding their pre-season preparations with a Joan Gamper Trophy clash against Tottenham Hotspur on August 8.
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Team News
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Arsenal attacker Reiss Nelson remains sidelined with a toe injury, while Arteta is sweating over the fitness of left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko, who is yet to take part in pre-season due to a calf problem.
However, the Gunners were boosted by the return to fitness of Leandro Trossard, Thomas Partey and Emile Smith Rowe in the loss to Man United, with the former shaking off a knock to the knee sustained against an MLS All-Star XI; all three players are expected to be involved on Thursday.
Arteta is expected to rotate his side and give minutes to the vast majority of his squad, with the likes of Gabriel Jesus, Ben White, Kieran Tierney and Fabio Vieira all pushing to start after beginning as substitutes last time out.
As for Barcelona, it remains to be seen exactly how many first-team members are still recovering from viral gastroenteritis, and Xavi may be short of options when selecting his first XI.
Jules Kounde, Alejandro Balde, Eric Garcia and summer signing Oriol Romeu are all believed to be among those affected by the stomach bug and they could therefore miss out on Thursday to ensure that they make a full recovery as soon as possible.
Pending a late fitness check, Xavi will hope to hand midfielder Ilkay Gundogan and defender Inigo Martinez their non-competitive debuts following their summer arrivals from Manchester City and Athletic Bilbao.
Arsenal possible starting lineup:
Ramsdale; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Tierney; Odegaard, Rice, Havertz; Saka, Jesus, Martinelli
Barcelona possible starting lineup:
Ter Stegen; Roberto, Christensen, Martinez, Alonso; Gundogan, Kessie, Pedri; Raphinha, Lewandowski, Fati
We say: Arsenal 2-1 Barcelona
Barcelona will arguably enter Thursday's clash as slight underdogs considering that they could be under-strength against an almost fully-fit Arsenal side.
The Gunners will be eager to return to winning ways in front of their American fanbase, and we can see Arteta's side taking advantage of Barca's expected lack of sharpness to claim a narrow win in California.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Oliver Thomas
