Barça vs Arsenal: Preview
Photo by Masashi Hara/Getty Images
Sunday’s friendly is a chance to see the new signings in action for the first time at the Greatest Stadium on Earth
FC Barcelona vs Arsenal FC
Competition/Round: 2019 Joan Gamper Trophy
Barcelona Outs & Doubts: None
Arsenal Outs & Doubts: Hector Bellerín, Rob Holding, Konstantinos Mavropanos (out), Alexandre Lacazette, Lucas Torreira, Mohamed Elneny, Mesut Özil, Sead Kolasinac (doubt)
Date/Time: Sunday, August 4, 2019, 8pm CET (Barcelona), 7pm BST/WAT (UK & Nigeria), 2pm ET, 11am PT (USA), 11.30pm IST (India)
Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
How to watch on TV: Premier Sports 1 (UK), SuperSport 3 (Nigeria), others
How to stream: Premier Player (UK), fcbarcelona.com (worldwide except for UK), others
After a full week of training at the Ciutat Deportiva Barcelona are ready for the third match of preseason: the Joan Gamper Trophy against Arsenal at the Greatest Stadium on Earth. The Gamper has been traditionally the first game of the new season at Camp Nou, a chance to present the first team squad to the fans and have a captain’s speech addressing the club’s goals for the season.
The game is pretty sweet too, with Premier League powerhouse Arsenal coming to town after a couple of South American opponents that didn’t really give Barça much trouble. The Gunners will play their last match before the official start of the Premier League season, so Unai Emery and his men will take this one very seriously and force Barça to raise their level as well, which is definitely a good thing.
Team news are always really hard to predict in preseason, especially with five Barça players having just returned from the Copa América and a bunch of doubts on Arsenal’s side, but both teams will be strong from the start and the match should be very competitive. The result doesn’t matter, but the start of La Liga is just two weeks away and Barça must give some encouraging signs in terms of performance.
This should be good! Welcome back, Camp Nou!
POSSIBLE LINEUPS
Barcelona (4-3-3): Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Umtiti, Alba; Roberto, Busquets, Rakitic; Rafinha, Griezmann, Dembélé
Arsenal (4-4-2): Leno; Maitland-Niles, Sokratis, Chambers, Monreal; Mkhitaryan, Guendouzi, Xhaka, Ceballos; Aubameyang, Nketiah
PREDICTION
Who cares about the score? But hey, this is the Gamper and Barça usually win it: 3-1 to the home team.
Source: barcablaugranes.com
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