With the final preseason friendly upon us, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta will likely field a first team that very closely resembles the starting lineups that we’ll see once the regular season gets here. Olympique Lyonaiss, or Lyon for short, are coming to the Emirates Stadium, and they’ll face a strong Gunners side.
Arteta now has his two England National Team stars, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka, back from post Euro 2024 holiday.
Emirates Cup FYIs
Olympique Lyon at Arsenal FC
Kickoff (local time): Sun. Aug 11, 6pm, Emirates Stadium, London, UK
Arsenal Preview Content: Team News Starting XI Prediction
Stream: Arsenal.com
Fun Fact: Lyon are the last foreign team to win the Emirates Cup, but Arsenal are the defending “champions” in this preseason format.
The two Three Lions heroes seem to be fully re-integrated into the side, so they should be included from the off tomorrow. In the second half though, we should see some major squad rotation.
Despite the match’s branding (and the fact that there is a trophy on the line), this is still a preseason tune-up after all.
Arsenal Starting XI Prediction vs Lyon (Emirates Cup)
David Raya; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz; Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to Ravens Wire, part of the USA Today SMG’s NFL Wire Network and the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and the Washington Times. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.