Arsenal take on Sevilla in the Emirates Cup this afternoon, and we expect Mikel Arteta to name a completely different side to the one he used against Brentford earlier this week.
The Gunners won each of their first four pre-season games. We took on FC Nurnberg, Everton, Orlando City and Chelsea, and won every single one of those fixtures comfortably.
However, a surprise friendly against Brentford this week saw us suffer our first defeat of the pre-season. Arteta chose not to use any of his key players for that game, which is why we expect the Gunners boss to go full strength this afternoon.
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Predicted Arsenal XI vs Sevilla in Emirates Cup
Against Brentford, Arsenal’s starting eleven looked like this: Turner, Cedric, Walters, Holding, Tavares, Elneny, Lokonga, Maitland-Niles, Marquinhos, Nelson and Nketiah. Zach Awe, Charlie Patino and Charles Sagoe Jr came on in the second half.
We expect none of those players to start this afternoon.
Arteta will likely go with Aaron Ramsdale in goal with William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes in front of him. We expect Ben White to keep his place at right-back, while Oleksandr Zinchenko will likely make his first appearance as a Gunner at the Emirates on the opposite side.
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The rest of our side is fairly straightforward.
Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka will start in the middle of the park, with Martin Odegaard starting in his usual number 10 role.
We expect the Norwegian to wear the captain’s armband as well.
Our front three will likely be Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka, who if they click, could form one of the most dangerous partnerships in the Premier League this season.
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Previous Emirates Cup winners
The Emirates Cup is set to return this afternoon for the first time since 2019. Arsenal, unsurprisingly, have won the competition the most times, and our opponents today, Sevilla, were the runners-up once before, in 2017.
10 editions of the Emirates Cup have taken place so far and here’s a list of all the winners.
2007: Arsenal
2008: Hamburg
2009: Arsenal
2010: Arsenal
2011: New York Red Bulls
2013: Galatasaray
2014: Valencia
2015: Arsenal
2017: Arsenal
2019: Lyon
Back in 2015, when Arsenal won the Emirates Cup, Mikel Arteta was the captain. The Spaniard will be hoping to become the first man to win it as a player and as a manager later today.
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