In just a few hours Arsenal will play their first pre-season game against Hibernian in Scotland. And on Saturday they will face Rangers. Arsenal have about 7 first team players absent who were on international duties with their countries. So we expect the two games to feature a lot of young players from the academy. The likes of Okonkwo and Balogun stand a great chance to feature more regularly throughout pre-season. We will see a debut for Nuno Tavares and finally the new squad number for Smith Rowe will be revealed.

Lineup prediction and Formation:

Even though we will be without some of the first team players, Arteta still have enough to implement new tactics and formation. I’m more interested in how we play as it will continue to revolve until we have all first team players back. I’m expecting Arteta to stick to the 4-2-3-1 formation.

GK:
Okonkwo was promoted to the first team and in the absence of Leno we could see him feature more although the club travelled with 2 other young goalkeepers in Tom Smith and James Hillson. Alex Runarsson has also travel and we might see him also get a chance but the club want him out and are still searching for his replacement.

DF:
New boy Nuno Tavares is expected to play more than Kolasinac who is also surplus to requirements. Tierney could return just before going to America and we expect Kolasinac to leave the club by then. We are still to sign David Luiz replacement and to make up the numbers the club has traveled with two U23 defenders, Harry Clarke and Omar Rekik, to support Holding and Chambers. With Bellerin also linked out, we expect Cedric to play the most minutes at right back. Off course sharing them with Chambers and Maitland-Niles throughout pre-season.

MF:
We are not well stock in midfield having only four players available for central midfield and attacking midfield. Vacant space left by Ceballos and the absence of Xhaka will have to be filled by some of the youngsters that travelled. I’m excited to see Azeez play but I didn’t see him in the training photo gallery shared by the club’s website. But the club travelled with another young midfielder, Jack Henry-Francis, who was recently promoted to the U23. There’s also opportunity for Maintlaind-Niles to impress Arteta in midfield.

FW:
Balogun is tipped to feature more. With both Aubameyang and Lacazette reporting late they will probably feature less tonight and get more time in the weekend against Rangers. Willian is also back and his situation is currently unknown whether he’s leaving or staying with us. But there’s an opportunity to see other youngsters like Nelson, John-Jules, George Lewis and Omari Hutchinson.