So, what is the Emirates Cup I hear you ask.
Well, it all started some 12 years ago — a pre-season football friendly tournament hosted by Arsenal at their home ground, the Emirates Stadium.
Named after Arsenal’s main sponsor since 2004, the invitational competition began in 2007.
Indeed, the first tournament, which was won by the hosts, was attended by more than 110,000 people across the two days.
The big guns were quickly rolled out with La Liga giants Real Madrid, Serie A heavyweights Juventus and fellow Emirates-sponsored team from the Bundesliga, Hamburg, all invited.
It has been held every summer except 2012 due to the London Olympics, 2016 because of pitch renovation work and last year because of stadium building work.
There have been plenty of highlights to enjoy in recent years with Valencia, Galatasaray, New York Bulls – featuring the legendary Thierry Henry – and Hamburg the other winners, alongside the Gunners.
Fast forward to 2019, and apologies if the view of this SBOBET writer upsets some of you, but I find the tournament has lost some of its attraction – albeit limited to begin with given it is effectively a glorified pre-season friendly.
That’s because this year the participants are effectively two!
Two matches: one women’s game and one men’s contest, with the women competing for the first time.
I applaud the political correctness of getting Arsenal women’s team involved; they will host Bayern Munich women before the men’s side welcome Ligue 1 outfit Lyon to town in a new one-day format.
But it does nothing to enhance the tournament as a spectacle, and I am sure that will be reflected in the attendance figures when they are released.
The Emirates Cup 2019 betting odds favour Arsenal over Lyon in the men’s match (and Bayern Munich in the women’s game which precedes it).
The pair have only met twice in competitive fixtures, with both games being played during the 2000-01 Champions League second group stage.
The Gunners won 1-0 in France, with Henry the scorer, before playing out a 1-1 draw at Highbury in the reverse tie when Dennis Bergkamp and Edmilson traded goals.
The clubs also played each other in the Emirates Cup four years ago when Arsenal cruised to a 6-0 victory.
There is some excitement, mind, with the game coming 24 hours after it was announced Arsenal are closing in on a club-record £72 million deal to sign Lille winger Nicolas Pepe.
Arsenal players may get a chance to ask their opponents about a talent who scored 23 goals for Lille last season and satisfies Arsenal’s need for a wide player with pace and high technical ability.
Arsenal have already shown reasons for optimism in pre-season under boss Unai Emery, who last week promised some big moves would be forthcoming.
They showed qualities in their midweek International Champions Cup draw with Real Madrid, even if they were pegged back after leading 2-0 before being defeated in a penalty shoot-out.
But they have otherwise a winning record with victory against Fiorentina, Colorado Rapids and a notable success against German champions Bayern Munich.
This is Lyon’s third pre-season friendly, following narrow defeats to Servette and Genoa, with encounters against Liverpool and Bournemouth to follow before the Ligue 1 campaign starts in a fortnight’s time.
It is also a reunion with former favourite Alexandre Lacazette, who moved to North London from Lyon two years ago, and he could be joined in the starting line-up by a debutant.
New loan signing Dani Ceballos, who plays as an attacking midfielder, arrived on loan from Real Madrid earlier this week. Although, another new recruit, William Saliba, will not feature for 12 months having returned to Saint-Etienne on loan.
As for Lyon, it’s hard not to sympathise as they so often have to sell their best players.
There are few clubs with a better pedigree to developing players and selling them at a huge profit. A case in point and the focus of this analysis saw the French international central midfielder Tanguy Ndombele leave the French side to join Arsenal’s North London rivals, Spurs.
When it comes to Lyon, their one to watch is another supposedly attracting interest from England in Moussa Dembele.
He burst onto the scenes at Fulham, before earning a name for himself with Scottish champions Celtic, where he won back-to-back domestic trebles. The 23-year-old joined Lyon from Celtic last summer and enjoyed an impressive campaign on his return to his homeland.
See, despite the reduced format, there may well be some Emirates Cup 2019 highlights to come after all!
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