Arsenal played another friendly match behind-closed-doors at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday against Aston Villa but seemingly lost the match 2-3.
![Ceballos and Ozil play as Arsenal lose against Aston Villa Emirates friendly 1 arsenal fc v watford fc premier league 6](/static/uploads/2020/07/arsenal-fc-v-watford-fc-premier-league-6-1024x750.jpg)
AFC Fixture News reported that Arsenal would play another mixed first-team/reserve friendly at the Emirates Stadium this weekend. They faced Aston Villa in a 3pm kick-off on 5 September.
This follows the 4-3 friendly win over QPR earlier this week. Arsenal stayed very secretive over that match, not releasing highlights nor any information about the game. QPR published a report, but only mentioned their own players in it.
Daily Cannon sources suggest Emile Smith Rowe, Joe Willock and Mohamed Elneny were among the scorers that day, but that’s all we’ve been able to establish about the game.
The club posted highlights from the last behind-closed-doors friendly matches at the stadium, against Brentford and Charlton Athletic, so it is possible we’ll get more information from a friendly at the Emirates.
Til then, all we know is:
https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/1302292708493594626
We also know that Dani Ceballos played, as did Willian (making his first start for Arsenal), Alexandre Laczette, Nicolas Pepe, Rob Holding and Hector Bellerin. Mesut Ozil also featured.
There was no live stream or updates from either club. Whilst we did get a stream for the MK Dons friendly, that was the hosts’ decision. We didn’t get one for Brentford or Charlton.
If Arsenal have the option not to stream a match, they tend to take it.
Such a shame Arsenal aren’t streaming or even acknowledging their game against Villa. No idea why a pre-season friendly has to be so shrouded in mystery. Even more frustrating for fans when they see so many other clubs showing or at least live tweeting their games this afternoon.
— Charles Watts (@charles_watts) September 5, 2020
In fairness, you can somewhat understand why. Mikel Arteta will be keen not to give Fulham too much to work with on the first day of the new season. Perhaps he wants to try out a new formation, or a player in a new position, and he’ll want that to be a surprise.