Preview: Arsenal wrap up US pre-season tour against Liverpool in Philadelphia

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Arsenal will complete their pre-season tour of the United States when we go up against Premier League rivals Liverpool at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Wednesday.

Mikel Arteta is slowly getting his squad back together after a busy summer of international tournaments. The Gunners boss took a number of young guns on the US tour with several key players given an extended break having competed at the European Championships and in the Copa America this summer.

We kicked-off our tour against Bournemouth in California last week and things started well with Fabio Vieira opening the scoring with a fine strike. The Portuguese international is looking to rejuvenate his Arsenal career after an injury-plagued 2023/24 campaign, so he’ll have been delighted to get on the score-sheet and catch the eye of Arteta.

Arsenal failed to build on their early goal and Antoine Semenyo equalised for Bournemouth in the 72nd minute. The game went to penalties and youngster Karl Hein was the hero after saving two spot-kick to give Arsenal the win.

The Gunners then took on Manchester United in a glamour clash at the Sofi Stadium in LA on Saturday night. Rasmus Hojlund broke the deadlock in the 9th minute but Arsenal equalised through Gabriel Jesus following a fine cross from Ethan Nwaneri. Gabriel Martinelli – back in the squad after returning from his holidays – won it for Arsena late on to cap a fine cameo off the bench.

Arteta was delighted to beat United in the blockbuster friendly in front of several celebrities in LA and he’ll look for another improved performance against Liverpool in Philadelphia on Wednesday night.

The Spanish coach could have a new signing to call upon after Riccardo Calafiori completed his move from Bologna. Arteta says he will check on the defenders fitness before making any decision but Calafiori could play some minutes if he’s ready.

After wrapping up their US tour against Liverpool tomorrow night, Arsenal will fly back to the UK to prepare for next weeks clash with Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen. We then finalise our pre-season preparations against Lyon in the Emirates Cup before opening the new Premier League campaign at home to Wolves on August 17th.

Arteta will be hoping to end the US tour with a win but it won’t be easy against a Liverpool side who are looking to make a fast start under new boss Arne Slot. The former Feyenoord boss replaced Jurgen Klopp this summer after the German called time on his illustrious Anfield career. Slot has big shoes to fill but is determined to build his own legacy on Merseyside.

The Reds have also played just two pre-season games so far but Slot’s regime got off to a rocky start with a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Preston North End. Things improved with a 1-0 win over Real Betis with Dominik Szoboszlai scoring the only goal of the game but they’ll have to put in a better display if they want to get anything against Arsenal.

Supporters in Philadelphia can attend the Arsenal vs Liverpool clash by buying tickets from a ticket marketplace such as Seatsnet.com. The game is expected to be sold-out so act fast if they want to watch all the action live.

Team news

Arsenal are slowly welcoming back their star men from their holidays following international duty. Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Aaron Ramsdale, David Raya and William Saliba haven’t taken part in any of the US tour and won’t feature against Liverpool after playing in the latter stages of Euro 2024. The quintet will link-up with the rest of the squad when Arsenal return to London.

Gabriel Magalhaes, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Martinelli rejoined pre-season training recently following their exploits with Brazil and Germany this summer. They all featured against Man Utd and will hope for more minutes against Liverpool.

Calafiori has trained with his new team mates and could be in the squad to face Liverpool if he proves his fitness to Arteta and his coaching staff. However, a place on the bench is the best he can realistically hope for.

Fabio Vieira, Thomas Partey and Jacub Kiwior will hope to start after being on the bench last time out while Eddie Nketiah could also play despite links with a move away from the club. Youngster Karl Hein is expected to continue in goal in the absence of Raya and Ramsdale.

Emile Smith Rowe won’t be involved after being released to fly back to London to complete his move to Fulham.

As for Liverpool, they’ll also be without a number of important first team players. The likes of Alisson Becker, Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alexis MacAlister and Ibrahima Konate are among those missing.

The Reds could also be without Curtis Jones after the midfielder limped off against Betis.

Likely Line-ups

Arteta is likely to make a few changes from the side that beat Man Utd. Gabriel should return in defence and could partner Jurrien Timber in the absence of Saliba. Oleksandr Zinchenko could continue at left-back despite doubts over his long-term future at the club.

Partey could replace Jorginho in midfield with Ethan Nwaneri keeping his place after impressing in pre-season. Kai Havertz could come in to lead the line up front for Arsenal while Gabriel Martinelli may be handed a start after an excellent cameo at the weekend.

Leandro Trossard and Reiss Nelson may drop to the bench where they’ll join the likes of Nketiah, Vieira and Kiwior.

Arsenal XI: Hein; White, Timber, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Partey, Odegaard, Nwaneri; Jesus, Havertz, Martinelli

Liverpool XI:  Kelleher; Bradley, Quansah, Van den Berg, Tsimikas; Endo, Morton; Salah, Szoboszlai, Elliott; Jota

Prediction

It’s tricky to make predictions for pre-season friendlies. Managers are fielding experimental teams and are without key players, but looking at the expected line-ups it’s safe to say Arsenal should be the stronger of the two teams on paper.

Liverpool are a work in progress under new boss Slot and it’s going to take time to see the best of them. Their defence is also severally depleted which should give Arsenal confidence.

Arsenal on the other hand are settled under Arteta and have looked solid in pre-season, so I’m going for a win for the Gunners. Arsenal 2-0 Liverpool

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