Arsenal, please stop playing rivals in friendlies

Arsenal have landed in Orlando for the second leg of their pre-season tour for matches against Orlando City and Chelsea. This begs the question: why are we playing against other Premier League teams, especially rivals?

An argument can be made that “iron sharpens iron” and that there is no way to get back up to the pace of the English top-flight than seeing the teams you’ll see during the season. However, the intensity is too much for matches that mean nothing.

Pre-season friendlies against our Premier League rivals are unnecessary

When it was announced that the Gunners would be taking on their London rivals in Orlando, I immediately thought back to a Ruben Loftus-Cheek tackle on Thomas Partey only one year ago. It was a dirty challenge for a game that meant something, let alone in a pre-season friendly. This reckless tackle placed the Ghanaian on the sidelines to start the 2021/22 campaign and Arsenal suffered as a result.

Last weekend against Everton in the Charm City Match was just as intense and physical as a typical match against the Toffees. Dirty tackles like James Tarkowski’s late game challenge on Reuell Walters, grabbing Jesus’ collar as he was running, and many players making questionable challenges for the intensity of the match left a lot of questions as to why we are doing this.

The club can very easily still play against quality opponents without the potential injuries that come from a familiar foe. The match against Nuremberg in Germany had nowhere near the intensity of this match and yet it was still a good opportunity for the players to get their legs under them and the new signings to acclimate.

If we want to play quality opponents in the pre-season then we should set up matches with some of the top teams in other European countries. There is no need to risk it in meaningless matches against English teams which naturally have an edge.