Arsenal vs Barcelona
The 2023 La Liga champions meet the Premier League runners up on Thursday for a pre-season club friendly; and fans in the SoFi Stadium in California can expect a real treat.
There will be plenty of big name stars on show when Barcelona meet Arsenal and both teams will be keen to turn in a winning performance. The Gunners put out a near full strength side in a friendly with Manchester United on Sunday but lost. And that is a habit head coach Mikel Arteta will be determined to shake off before the 2023/24 campaign begins.
Meanwhile, Barcelona fans have had nothing to watch yet, as illness in the camp caused their fixture against Serie A giants Juventus to be called off. The Catalans are preparing to defend their La Liga tile and they have an impressive record in their head to head meetings with Arsenal, which sets this encounter up to be a fascinating contest.
Talking Points
Arsenal looking for a pre-season bounce-back
Arteta watched his team lose 2-0 to Manchester United in a friendly in New Jersey on Sunday as Bruno Fernandes and Jadon Sancho scored for the Red Devils. Arteta will be a little disappointed by both goals. Fernandes’ long range effort should have been stopped by Aaron Ramsdale and Sancho pounced on a missed clearance by centre back Gabriel. Arsenal came closest to scoring when Manchester United keeper Tom Heaton made a remarkable double save to deny Gabriel Martinelli, and new man Kai Havertz headed over a cross from Martin Odegaard.
Arsenal’s signing of Declan Rice has been the biggest Premier League news of the summer so far and he was named in a strong starting 11, which was only missing striker Gabriel Jesus and utility man Oleksandr Zinchenko. Rice sat behind Havertz and Odegaard in midfield and that is likely to be Arteta’s formation when the new Premier League season starts. New signing Jurrien Timber began the game at right back but moved into midfield as the game evolved and this fluidity will become a feature of the Gunners’ play next season.
One player who could be on his way out is Scottish left back Kieran Tierney who struggled to make an impact last term with limited appearances. Arteta may be tempted to offload Tierney to bring in funds to finance more recruitment.
Sickly Barca back in training
Barcelona had no option but to cancel their pre-season friendly against Juventus last week as the Catalans suffered a spread of a gastroenteritis virus through the camp. That cancellation will cost Barca millions of dollars which is the last thing they need as they try to balance their books and finance more signings.
Happily, they are back in training and preparing to meet the Gunners.
Barca president Joan Laporta reckons the best players in the world want to play for Barcelona, but the club’s finances don’t make it that simple. The SBOTOP stats team have been working hard on the La Liga 2023 betting odds and they give Real Madrid a very slight edge; and Barcelona can’t expect to win the league again if they stand still.
Laporta may be right. Barcelona is an attractive option for the top players and they don’t get much better than Robert Lewandowski who arrived last summer. And Xavi has already pulled off a masterstroke with the signing of Ilkay Gundogan from European champions Manchester City. Gundogan is sure to be a key player in the 2023/24 title race, and now Barcelona may soon return to Manchester for their next recruit. Portuguese right back Joao Cancelo could be available if he can’t be assured of a starting berth for the Sky Blues. He spent the second half of last season on loan at Bayern Munich and is currently weighing up his options. City boss Pep Guardiola has hinted that Cancelo may be given another chance but Barcelona are watching the situation closely though, given the Catalans’ current financial situation, they may pursue the option of a loan deal.
History
These two teams have met nine times previously and the Blaugrana have been dominant, with six wins and two draws, scoring 22 goals and conceding 11.
The most famous of these clashes came in 2006, when Barca came from behind to win the Champions League, one of their five, while that is the closest Arsenal have come to being Kings of Europe.
The Gunners’ only victory against Barca came in the 2011 Champions League Round of 16. Arsenal won 2-1 at the Emirates but lost the second leg 3-1 at the Camp Nou.
Prediction
Arsenal looked good for much of their game against Manchester United and Arteta will have been working on reducing the individual errors. Barcelona may be a little undercooked and might not be 100 per cent fit; but they do have a very strong record against the Gunners so we could well be heading for a 1-1 draw.
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