Lyon preview: A first look at Calafiori?

Howdy, a very quick Sunday blog for you.

We have our final friendly of pre-season later this afternoon when we take on Lyon in the Emirates Cup. It’s a game Mikel Arteta will take seriously, as it is the last chance to prepare his team in a competitive manner before our first Premier League game next weekend.

Things I’m curious about include Riccardo Calafiori, and whether or not we get to see the Italian today. The manager hinted at his inclusion after the win over Bayer Leverkusen, and it’d be good for him and the fans to see him get some minutes today. He looks to have been fully involved in training, at least based on the pictures, so let’s hope we get our first look at him later on. My guess is a second half sub to play at left-back, but let’s see.

I’m also interested to see what happens in midfield, and whether we might see a Declan Rice, Kai Havertz, Martin Odegaard triumvirate. Right now, I think that’s the trio that will start the Wolves game, with Gabriel Jesus up front, and as this is the last pre-season game, it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s what Arteta went with today.

Leandro Trossard was very good against Leverkusen, but part of me was a bit surprised we only saw Gabriel Martinelli for a short cameo towards the end. It could just be a fitness thing, they’re easing him back into action, but I’d expect/hope to see a bit more from the Brazilian today in terms of minutes. He’s a player who I think we can get more from this season, and while I know it’s not as exciting to think about that instead of a shiny new attacking signing, more output from Martinelli can only be a good thing.

Beyond that, I’m not sure what else we’ll see that’s out of the ordinary, but I’m open to a surprise. Will we see Ethan Nwaneri get some minutes again? The left-back position and the need to introduce Calafiori probably makes it a little more difficult for Myles Lewis-Skelly to feature, but Nwaneri has had minutes in every pre-season game, and his presence in midfield – with Fabio Vieira used out wide – has been quite interesting, so let’s see what happens.

There doesn’t appear to be much else going on, the rumour-mill is a bit quiet this Sunday, but could pick up again early next week. I can’t imagine Arteta is going to give anything away when he speaks after the game, but let’s see. Anyway, we’ll have a report and some post-game stuff on Arseblog News a bit later on.

For now, have a great Sunday.

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