Arsenal are set to add two further dates to their pre-season schedule as they prepare for the upcoming 2022/23 campaign football.london understands. The Gunners have already confirmed that they will be touring across the United States this summer as was reported last month.
They are set to travel first to Baltimore, where they will take on Everton at the M&T Bank Stadium on July 16th. Mikel Arteta's men will then travel to Florida to take on Orlando City and Chelsea in the Orlando Cup on the 20th and 23rd of July respectively.
Those will not be their only fixtures, however, and football.london understands that Arsenal are planning to play matches both before and after the US tour.
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The game prior to the trip across the Atlantic is understood to be against FC Nurnberg on July 8th. This match is set to round off a pre-season training camp that the Gunners will hold in Germany after they return from their summer holidays.
Upon returning from America they will then host the Emirates Cup at the Emirates Stadium on July 30th. While nothing has been confirmed yet, it is thought the Gunners are hoping to host Sevilla there in a one-off match. The competition has previously taken place across two days but will be limited to just one this year.
It is understood that the club may look to host a behind-closed-doors friendly in between their return from the US and the Emirates Cup, although an opponent for this has not yet been confirmed.
In previous incarnations the Emirates Cup has also seen the Arsenal Women's team play a pre-season fixture on the same day at the Emirates Stadium, however, it is thought that that will not be the case this time around.
Pre-season preparations are going to have to start slightly earlier this season due to the fact that the campaign is set to be split up by the World Cup in Qatar, which takes place between November and December. The 2022/23 season will begin on August 6th before breaking off on November 13th and resuming after the World Cup on Boxing Day. It will then finish on May 28th 2023.
The Gunners were due to travel to the States last season to participate in the Florida Cup. They were scheduled to play Everton and then one of Inter Milan and Colombian side Millonarios F.C, but were forced to cancel due to a COVID outbreak in the squad.
Instead, their pre-season last year saw them travel to Scotland for a pre-season training camp where they played out a defeat to Hibernian and an exciting 2-2 draw with Rangers. Their plans to travel to America were then scuppered by a COVID outbreak, leaving them instead to take on Millwall and Watford in behind-closed-doors friendlies. They rounded off pre-season preparations with London derbies against Chelsea and Tottenham in the MIND Cup.
