Arsenal are planning pre-season friendlies in addition to the Community Shield later this month, after confirming the details of that match.

LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 10: (L-R) Santi Cazorla, Mikel Arteta and Alexis Sanchez of Arsenal pose with the trophy after the FA Community Shield match between Manchester City and Arsenal at Wembley Stadium on August 10, 2014 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND: (L-R) Santi Cazorla, Mikel Arteta and Alexis Sanchez of Arsenal pose with the Community Shield on August 10, 2014. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Arsenal posted on their club website on Thursday to confirm they’ll play the 2020 Community Shield against Liverpool behind closed doors at Wembley this month, as we covered yesterday. The fixture will take place on Saturday, August 29th at 4:30pm BST, live on BT Sport.

As per Football.London, the majority of the Arsenal squad will return to training on August 22nd. So it’s all a bit up in the air which players will actually be ready to feature in the match.

Some of the squad will return this Friday (August 14th). That’s mostly just those whose seasons ended early after loan moves, though. The likes of William Saliba should be raring to go by the 29th.

Arsenal are also planning to play other pre-season friendlies before the Premier League restarts. However, the most likely outcome at this point is that those take place between the Community Shield and the Premier League opener, rather than before both.

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Some players will go away on international duty during that period, so the friendlies won’t be full strength. But it’s the best Arsenal can do in the circumstances.

We can only hope the rather chaotic start to the new season doesn’t lead to as many injuries as Project Restart did.

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