Arsenal could face three important players for the Community Shield against Manchester City next weekend after the trio lost in a friendly win against Barcelona
Declan Rice, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Folarin Balogun face a race against time to be fit for the Community Shield after losing Arsenal’s win over Barcelona.
The trio missed the Gunners’ 5-3 win against the La Liga champions on Thursday with injury. Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and Fabio Vieira all scored and Leandro Trossard scored a brace as Mikel Arteta’s side went wild in their final exhibition match in the United States.
It was a much improved performance from the Gunners, but Arteta looked worried after the win over Barcelona after injuries to Rice, Zinchenko and Balogun. The Gunners take on Monaco in the Emirates Cup on Wednesday, four days before next weekend’s Community Shield against Manchester City. Zinchenko hasn’t featured in the 2-0 win at Newcastle since early May, meaning he hasn’t featured in pre-season either. Asked about the left-back, Arteta said: “Unfortunately Alex had a little muscle problem. I think he’ll be back soon but it’s a shame he wasn’t with us the whole tour. .”
Meanwhile, Rice missed the game against Barcelona after suffering a stroke in training. He added: “Dec [Rice] had a pretty strong kick in training so we didn’t want to take any chances. He didn’t really feel good in training yesterday and we decided not to train.”
Balogun has become the third player to be unfit against Barcelona with a foot problem. Arteta has revealed the United States international hasn’t trained with the squad amid rumors linking him with a move elsewhere. “[Balogun] was unavailable,” Arteta concluded. “He has a slight foot injury and hasn’t trained with us.”
Arsenal meet City in the Community Shield on August 6 after finishing second last season. The Gunners pushed Pep Guardiola’s side all the way until City clinched the title with three games remaining. Despite a big improvement, Arteta’s men will be keen to keep improving ahead of the start of the 2023/24 season. After the end of his tour in the United States, Arteta said: “I think it was difficult because we had to travel a lot and adapt to a lot of things, but I think the team showed a great capacity. to adapt to different times, to different terrains, to different heat, to different opponents. It was a very good test, but I’m really happy with the result.
“With the support we are getting, we certainly feel a big difference in the United States now. We’ve been to three cities, Washington DC, New York and now LA, and it’s only getting bigger. Thank you all because we really feel at home here now.”
