Arsenal have been confirmed as one of the participants in the Dubai Super Cup that’s set to take place in the second week of December.
The World Cup begins in just five days and 10 of our players are on their way to Qatar. However, a number of others will go on a small holiday before returning to London Colney to get back to training under Mikel Arteta.
Then, the Gunners fly to Dubai for an exciting tournament.
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Arsenal in Dubai Super Cup: Tournament rules include penalties in every game
Arsenal join Liverpool, Olympique Lyon and Italian giants AC Milan to take part in a small tournament called the Dubai Super Cup between the 8th and 16th of December.
Arteta’s side will not face Liverpool, but they will take on Lyon (8th) and Milan (13th). As usual, the team with the most points win the Cup, but the points-system is a bit different.
According to Charles Watts of Goal, a victory will get you three points, but a draw is worth two points now instead of one. The biggest difference is that every game will have a penalty shootout at the end – irrespective of the score at full-time.
The winner of the shootout will be awarded one extra point.
That makes things really exciting, and we’ll see how good some of our players are from the spot.
The Insider’s View:
Arsenal were always going to play a few friendlies during the World Cup break, but it’s a great sign that we’re taking on two really good sides.
Milan won the Serie A last season and are currently second in the league table there. Stefano Pioli is a fantastic manager, and it will be a good little test for us.
Lyon too are a good side to face. Alexandre Lacazette is expected to play a part, and it will be nice to see him among the lads again – albeit he’ll be playing on the opposite side.
The most important thing to remember, however, is that the two games are friendlies that mean absolutely nothing. Arteta will remind everyone of that, but he’d definitely want to win both games ahead of the second half of the season.
