Charlton boss Lee Bowyer isn’t worrying about the 6-0 friendly defeat to Arsenal over the weekend, praising the strength of his team’s opponents.

Arsenal dominated a friendly against Charlton at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday, but head coach Lee Bowyer says the match was just about fitness for his players.

“It was a good workout,” Bowyer told the club website. “Obviously playing Arsenal, they are a proper side. It was a difficult workout and it was good fitness.

“To be playing against those players. Some of them who have been playing Champions League for years, playing against a proper opposition, every single position they are really strong.

“Arsenal are a week in front of us training-wise, so the most important thing is getting ready for Hull the best we can. This will have done us the world of good moving on to that.”

You’d imagine it’s a similar story for Mikel Arteta on the other side. He probably didn’t care too much about the result, he just wanted the players to take it seriously and push themselves to help build their fitness for the competitive matches.

The result of that is that a stronger Arsenal side blew Charlton away, but that was never really very important. As long as they came through the match fitter and without any injuries, it was a success.

Arsenal are planning to play another friendly before their first Premier League match against Manchester City in just over a week’s time.

The club won’t confirm any details until after the match, however, presumably for safety reasons. They’re rightly trying to keep fans away from matches for the time being.