Arsenal have made 400 firefighters who battled the horrific Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June guests of honour for their Emirates Cup clashes against Benfica and Sevilla.

Arsenal has welcomed the brave firefighters who battled the Grenfell Tower fire as guests of honour at their Emirates Cup clashes against Benfica and Sevilla, with Arsene Wenger hailing their ‘heroic’ work in his match programme notes.

“I would like to offer a special welcome to the 400 firefighters and their families who we have invited to both days of the competition. Many of the firefighters were directly involved in the response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy,” Wenger wrote, reports the Daily Mail.

“Heroic is a word we often hear in a football context but these brave men and women truly embody what it means to be a hero.

“I know the club’s community department also worked hard with the relief efforts at Grenfell, everyone here at Arsenal was shocked and deeply saddened by events in west London and we send our deepest sympathies to those many families affected.”

The service men and women will be guests of honour for Arsenal’s second Emirates Cup clash against Sevilla at 4:20pm on Sunday afternoon after already being guests of honour for the Benfica game on Saturday.

The catastrophic fire that took hold of Grenfell Tower in Kensington back in June is still fresh in everyone’s mind.

70 people were injured and at least 80 people were killed.

These pre-season friendly matches are the first Arsenal have played in England since the disaster took place and, as Wenger says, the word ‘heroic’ is thrown around a lot but in this case it couldn’t be more appropriate.

At the beginning of July, Hector Bellerin made a £19,050 donation to the British Red Cross after vowing to donate £50 for every minute he played in the UEFA u21 Euros in Poland. The 22-year-old played 381 minutes for Spain.

Gary Lineker then matched it.

Raheem Sterling, who grew up in north west London, has also reportedly made a substantial donation.

You can still donate to the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire here.