As any football fan knows, the break between seasons can be a slog when there’s no international tournament to watch.
The ground-breaking decision to move the World Cup to the winter this year has robbed us of summer football. But all is not lost.
For Arsenal fans, there’s a wealth of things to do to keep yourself entertained until Mikel Arteta’s men kick off again in August. Here are six of the best options.
Watch YouTube highlights of new signings
With Arsenal signing close to 100-million-pounds-worth of talent this summer, it’s only natural that we want to check them out on YouTube before we see them in the famous red jersey.
While we know all about Gabriel Jesus, our knowledge of Fábio Vieira and Marquinhos is probably a little sketchier, which is where highlights come in handy.
A particularly entertaining vid is the one of Vieira’s goals and assists from last season, when the cultured left winger helped Porto to an incredible title-winning season, losing just once all campaign.
Stream final pre-season friendly
Arsenal’s pre-season line-up features a blockbuster friendly against Sevilla on 30th July, after playing a double-header in Florida and the opening fixture vs Everton.
You’ll be able to stream this game live via several routes, and it’ll be the last chance for you to see the players prepare before the season opener at Crystal Palace a week later.
Will Jesus be looking sharp after his first full pre-season? Which formation will Arteta opt for? How will a full Emirates stadium sound with just days to go until the new season? This friendly should give us the answers.
Play football-related internet games
The great thing about the web is that there’s always something to keep us entertained, and nowhere is this truer than with online games.
Fans of Arsenal’s glory days under Arsene Wenger will be happy to know that the famous FIFA 2002 game, with the legendary Thierry Henry on the cover, is now available to play via your browser.
If you’d like to play for money, then betting sites offer a broad range of games too, often with football-related titles within them. It’s a good idea to start with the best online casinos to give you a better chance of getting a fair game, and then once there it’s simply a case of searching through their stock for footy games.
Whichever option you go for, there will be a wealth of Gunners-related options to choose from: we are talking about the world’s greatest club, after all!
Read the latest transfer chat on forums
The club’s fanbase is pretty huge, which is reflected in the large number of Arsenal forums and chat sites dotted around the web.
Some of them have been around since the start of the internet era and have an established userbase, while others are making use of popular social networks such as Reddit.
If you want to read the latest transfers and talk formations and tactics, then it should be free to sign up to any of them. While the spirit is generally good-natured, be warned: forums can sometimes get argumentative, with a clash of opinions often taking place!
Create your Fantasy Premier League team
The rate at which the Fantasy Premier League has evolved over the years has been truly impressive. Gone are the days of us simply picking 11 players to do a job each weekend, we now have options such as bench boost, wildcards, and many more as tinkering with our teams becomes a daily task.
Top-scoring Arsenal players from last season included Saka, Gabriel, and the excellent Aaron Ramsdale in goal, but this season may conjure up a new bunch of FPL magicians.
Expect the new signings to hit the ground running as Arsenal ease into a kinder run of opening fixtures than previous years.
The question remains, though: just who do we make captain?
Watch Arsenal documentaries
There’s nothing like a good Gunners documentary to remind us of the good old days, or even just a few seasons ago.
The club is the latest to be given the All or Nothing treatment, with the series set for a 4th of August release date, but if you prefer something a little more old-fashioned then more classic options are available to watch online.
Fan favourites include 89, a piece about the season with the famous last-day Michael Thomas goal at Anfield, and Invincibles, a tribute to the only time a Premier League team went an entire season unbeaten.
With a few of these beauties lined up, and with the other activities on the list, you should be able to pass the time away until that opening day at Selhurst Park!