Arsenal have two Premier League fixtures remaining before their focus turns towards preparing for next season.
The Gunners host Newcastle United on Sunday afternoon, before taking on Southampton at St. Mary’s next weekend.
While Mikel Arteta’s team will be determined to ensure they finish second again, they’ll already be somewhat looking ahead to the transfer window and how they can improve their squad ahead of the new campaign.
Arsenal’s players will have a full summer off to rest and recover before pre-season commences in mid-July.
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Mikel Arteta says Arsenal would ‘love’ to be part of the Club World Cup
Playing their final game of the season on May 24th, several of Arsenal’s players will then jet off to play a couple of international fixtures at the start of June.
The majority will be finished by June 14th, and will get at least four weeks off before returning to London Colney to commence preparations for the new campaign.
Arsenal play AC Milan in Singapore in their first pre-season tour match on July 23rd, before facing Newcastle and Tottenham after that.
Meanwhile, Chelsea and Manchester City will be taking part in the new Club World Cup from the middle of June, in a tournament that could see the Premier League sides play a maximum of seven games over a month.
Asked about the new competition in his press conference on Friday, Arteta claimed that Arsenal would love to be in it, although he admitted that it would take its toll on his squad.
“Well, I think we would love to be part of that, certainly,” he said.
“With the way the squad is at the moment, with the numbers that we have, that would put so much stress again in the squad.
“So it’s not a choice, we are not on it, but we have to plan, really, the squad that we’re going to have to have available.
“We want to win these competitions to win it as well, and we certainly have to do both.”
Arsenal should be happy about not being in the Club World Cup
Arsenal have been plagued by injury this season, with the likes of Gabriel Jesus, Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka, Ben White, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Magalhaes all spending significant portions of the campaign on the sidelines.
The worst possible thing for the Gunners squad would be to fly to the US and play in the heat for a month in competitive matches.
Arteta’s ensemble are in desperate need of some rest after a gruelling season, and the Club World Cup would merely be a huge disruption.
Instead, the players will be afforded a long break before they can come back fresh and ready to conquer the new season.
This will also allow Arteta and Andrea Berta to focus on transfer business, and for potential new signings to integrate more easily.
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