Arsene Wenger insists that Arsenal’s pre-season clash against Chelsea on Saturday is far more than just a friendly.

  • Arsenal v Chelsea kicks off at 12:40pm on 22 July at the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Bejing
  • Wenger claims there’s a lot of pride at stake despite match being ‘friendly’
  • Gunners face Chelsea twice in pre-season
  • The two London clubs will face each other in Community Shield on 6 August

Wenger has admitted that there’s a lot of pride at stake during Arsenal’s pre-season clash against Chelsea on Saturday.

“It’s always difficult to predict, but [although] it’s a friendly between Chelsea and Arsenal, it’s not really a friendly because there’s always some pride at stake and some London desire to have the superiority,” Wenger said [via Arsenal.com].

“It was a very interesting game in the final of the FA Cup, and we play against Chelsea in the Community Shield, and again very early in the season. 

“We know each other very well and it’s difficult to know how prepared Chelsea are and how far we are with our preparations. Saturday will be a good indication of that and we were good against Bayern. This is another test for us before the season.”

Arsenal face Chelsea twice in pre-season this summer, which is handy considering they won the Premier League last season and it can give the team a huge indicator of how far off they are from competing.

The Gunners will play the Blues again on 6 August in the Community Shield after they beat them in the FA Cup final in May.

Like Arsenal, Chelsea also face Bayern Munich as part of their pre-season tour in China. They then play AC Milan before returning to England to once again face the Gunners.

Arsene Wenger’s side, meanwhile, have matches against Benfica and Sevilla to play during the Emirates Cup.