The 2022/2023 Premier League season resumes in a few days, and Arsenal's preparations are just about complete ahead of the London derby against West Ham United.
A second pre-season got underway at the beginning of the month with the Gunners losing a behind-closed-doors friendly against Watford at London Colney with those not in Qatar for the 2022 World Cup such as Gabriel Magalhaes, Rob Holding, Cedric Soares, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Eddie Nketiah, Reiss Nelson and Marquinhos all featuring.
More recently Arsenal have been in the Middle East for their fourth overseas tour of the calendar year. Across a 10-day period, aside from the news of Gabriel Jesus' injury, it is safe to say that everything else went to plan with wins over Lyon and AC Milan to clinch the Dubai Super Cup.
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Back on home soil for a friendly against Juventus at the weekend, the Gunners were beaten 2-0 and suffered an untimely injury setback with Nelson limping off in the first-half with a suspected hamstring injury and he will almost certainly be unavailable for the West Ham clash.
But before facing the Hammers on Boxing Day, a large number of the Arsenal first-team squad have taken another step towards full fitness with a runout against Championship outfit Luton Town in a behind-closed-doors friendly and details of the match have been revealed.
Perhaps the big story was the inclusion of Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli for the first time since their World Cup excursions. However, despite the pair being named in a strong starting line-up, the Gunners couldn't find a way past Luton and were ultimately held to a goalless draw.
In truth, chances were few and far between in the opening 45 minutes. Saka almost converted just inside the area but was marginally caught offside before Thomas Partey had an effort blocked inside the box and Martinelli curled a shot just wide before the break and at the other end Aaron Ramsdale make two strong saves to deny Elijah Adebayo and Carlton Morris,
Mikel Arteta then made a few changes at half time with Matt Turner, Marquinhos and Fabio Vieira getting some minutes. The Brazilian forced Luton keeper Ethan Horvath into a big save whilst Arsenal's best chance of the game fell to Granit Xhaka whose effort was just wide of the post.
Interestingly, Cedric Soares lined up at left-back with Kieran Tierney and Oleksandr Zinchenko missing whilst Karl Hein, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Emile Smith Rowe were among the other first-team stars who didn't feature alongside William Saliba (on his way back following World Cup duty with France) and injured pair Gabriel Jesus and Reiss Nelson.
Arsenal team: Arsenal: Ramsdale (Turner), White (Sousa), Holding, Gabriel (Foran), Cedric, Partey (Lokonga), Xhaka (Elneny), Odegaard (Cozier-Duberry), Saka (Vieira), Martinelli (Marquinhos), Nketiah (Cirjan). Subs not used. Sajoe Jr.
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