Arsenal are only six days away from getting their season back underway.
The Gunners take a trip to Manchester City on Wednesday for the first game in Project Restart.
But Arsenal’s latest friendly hasn’t gone exactly to plan.
Mikel Arteta’s side, who thumped Charlton 6-0 last weekend, lost 3-2 to Championship outfit Brentford at the Emirates Stadium yesterday afternoon.
Joe Willock opened the scoring for Arsenal shortly before the break, before Alexandre Lacazette made it 2-1 in the second half after the visitors briefly equalised.
But the promotion-chasing Londoners staged a brilliant comeback and went on to score twice without reply.
Here’s how Arteta reacted to the defeat, speaking to Sky Sports: “We are trying different things and give minutes to all the players. We’re getting adapted to playing in an empty stadium as well and not getting that energy from the fans.”
Considering this was a friendly, little can be read into it.
Just because Arsenal lost to a second-tier team, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Pep Guardiola’s side are going to flatten them next week.
The truth is, nobody knows what will happen at the Etihad. The absence of fans inside stadiums is a total game-changer and it’s going to be fascinating to see how the players fare.
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