Arsenal and Manchester City could face each other in a pre-season friendly in Dublin according to rumours in Monday’s Irish media.

The president of Napoli, Aurelio de Laurentiis, told media that Napoli will face Liverpool at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on 4 August. “There won’t be any (pre-season) tournaments,” de Laurentis told Corriere dello sport.

“For now, we have organised a friendly with Liverpool in Dublin on 4 August.”

16 april 2018 irish times arsenal manchester city friendly
Irish Times, 16 April 2018
16 april 2018 irish independent arsenal manchester city friendly
Irish Independent, 16 April 2018

Now, the rumour that Arsenal will face Manchester City at the same venue a few days earlier, has gathered pace with the game likely to be played on 1 August.

The dates, locations and opponents for most of Arsenal’s 2018 pre-season world tour have also seemingly leaked on Twitter, after the recent International Champions Cup announcement.

As we reported earlier in the week, Arsenal will take part in the International Champions Cup this year, along with a host of top clubs.

On Tuesday we should know for sure which teams Arsenal will play, but the details have seemingly leaked early, thanks to Twitter user @AFCFixtureNews.

His information is generally pretty accurate, as he confirmed Arsenal’s participation in the ICC all the way back in February.

According to the latest update, Arsenal will play two matches in Singapore first. They’re two pretty big games as well, with one against Atletico Madrid and the other against PSG.

We already knew Arsene Wenger’s side would travel to Singapore from those reports in February.

The remainder of the friendlies will be closer to home. First Manchester City in Dublin on August 1st (which is still not confirmed), then Valencia in Sweden a few days later.

Sadly, there won’t be an Emirates Cup to look forward to this year. This is due to works going on at the Arsenal stadium.

Full schedule (so far)

  • July 26 – vs Atletico Madrid, National Stadium (Singapore)
  • July 28 – vs Paris Saint-Germain, National Stadium (Singapore)
  • August 1 – vs Manchester City, Aviva Stadium (Dublin, Ireland)
  • August 4 – vs Valencia, Friends Arena (Stockholm, Sweden)