Arsenal made an impressive return to the pitch with a 6-0 friendly win over Charlton Athletic on Saturday, but Lucas Torreira and Cedric Soares missed out.
Arsenal’s friendly against Charlton at the Emirates Stadium this weekend gave a lot of players the chance to make their return to the pitch, but Lucas Torreira and Cedric Soares weren’t among them.
As far as we know, the teams looked like this in the two halves:
So teams today looked like:
First half: Leno, Bellerin, Luiz, Mustafi, Tierney, Guendouzi, AMN, Nelson, Ozil, Auba, Laca.
Second half: Martinez, Sokratis, Holding, Mari, Kolasinac, Ceballos, Xhaka, Pepe, Willock, Martinelli, Nketiah.
— Charles Watts (@charles_watts) June 6, 2020
We also know that Saka got some minutes in the second half. However, it appears Cedric didn’t despite his return from a knee injury.
Most likely, the Southampton loanee missed out over his recent facial injury. The right-back was wearing a mask in training, and it probably isn’t a good idea to throw him back into full-contact matches until he fully recovers.
Torreira also missed out, as he continues to step up his recovery from an ankle injury. The midfielder is back in group training, but we haven’t seen him in any training matches just yet. Again, it’s better to be cautious with him for now.
Clearly, the squad is still big enough, given Arteta could name two full sides plus Saka. There’s no rush for those two, even with the Premier League’s impending return.