Arsenal vs Rangers: 5 things we’d like to see in pre-season clash

Arsenal haven’t enjoyed the brightest start to pre-season life. Only one game in and it’s total meltdown as Mikel Arteta’s side embarrassingly lost 2-1 to Hibernian in a match that meant so much and has rightfully resulted in calls for the manager to be sacked.

Oh behave.

On the flip side, the game shouldn’t have gone ahead with Arsenal fielding 12 players on the pitch after Willian turned up as two. That’s against the rules, right?

In all seriousness though, pre-season matches mean nothing. They are fitness exercises streamed filmed on camera. That’s it. One need only look at the starting lineup containing one, maybe two, Arsenal players who will be a regular feature in the coming Premier League season to know that.

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Arsenal vs Rangers: 5 things we’d like to see in Saturday’s pre-season clash at Ibrox with debut for new signing Nuno Tavares

Arteta and Edu have not completed anywhere near the amount of transfer business they or the supporters would have liked by this stage and as a trip to the Florida awaits there looks like being only two new faces on the plane – along with the likes of Sead Kolasinac, Hector Bellerin and Eddie Nketiah.

There is mitigation to the lack of sales which carries over into signings but with no international football to use as a distraction it’s time we started seeing some action in the market. As Chris Tarrant would declare when the big money came around on Who Wants to be a Millionaire: ‘serious business’.

Which is why it’s a positive distraction to be playing the Scottish Premiership champions on Saturday. What better way to shift the focus than a trip to Ibrox?

Having laid out how mostly meaningless the scoreline is in these matches, it doesn’t make losing fun. Even if it was Hibernian, it’s still not nice to be on the wrong end of the scoreline despite it being the best time of the year to be an Arsenal fan as the losses leave no lasting scars.

Rangers won’t be an easy tie, either. They did just lose to Tranmere, which is quite funny, but at Ibrox they’re a different kettle of fish and the work Steve Gerrard has done deserves all the praise he’s been given.

So for round two of the pre-season tour, here’s what we’d like to see from the game.

1. Arthur Okonkwo Getting Another Start

This will make for an interesting call. We do know Arthur Okonkwo will feature, though.

"“It was his debut, he was so excited,” Arteta said of the keeper. “He has earned his place in the first team with everything he has done at academy level. And unfortunately, that happened. But things will get better, he will have another chance on Saturday. “So hopefully he can be better. He’s confident in his relationship with his teammates and everything. It’s time to support him, he’s our goalkeeper and we need to give him confidence.”"

Fans would like to see the 19-year-old get minutes from the start. It’s likely Arteta will rotate at half-time as he did against Hibernian but even if it’s pre-season and so early into the summer it could send the wrong messages to not hand Okonkwo a start.

Close to being the least ideal debut he could have hoped for, building him back up and keeping his confidence high is vital, although the errors he made were uncharacteristic of him and can be solely put down to a combination of nerves and excitement.

Karl Hein could get a run out in the second half, especially with Brighton interested, while there is a chance for James Hillson to get minutes too.