Arsenal may be set to face Serie A side Juventus instead of Barcelona over the World Cup break, according to a report from Italy.
According to the Italian outlet La Stampa (via JuveFC), Juventus are planning friendly matches against Arsenal and Barcelona next month.
Juventus will take on Arsenal on Saturday, December 17th at the Emirates Stadium, followed by a home game against Barcelona on December 22nd. An announcement is expected in the coming days.
Given the listed date of this potential friendly, it seems this Juventus match would replace the rumoured Arsenal-Barcelona friendly, with Barcelona evidently set to face Juventus instead.
Arsenal have already provided official confirmation of their planned friendly matches in Dubai over the World Cup break. The Gunners will face Lyon on December 8th at 19:30 local time, followed by AC Milan on December 13th at 18:00.
Both matches will be played at the Al Maktoum Stadium, and Arsenal write that more information regarding the streaming of the matches will be released in due course.
But Arsenal are yet to confirm the details of their planned friendly at the Emirates Stadium, only mentioning that details will be released soon.
In addition to the friendlies listed above, Arsenal will also play a friendly against Watford behind closed doors in the week commencing November 28th, and there’s unconfirmed talk of a fifth friendly the week after the Juventus game.
Arsenal’s potential World Cup schedule (times in GMT)
- November 13th-December 3rd – Approximately 10 days off, followed by training in London
- W/C November 28th – Arsenal vs Watford (London Colney)
- December 4th – Travel to Dubai for a warm-weather camp
- December 8th, 15:30 – Arsenal vs Lyon (Al Maktoum Stadium)
- December 13th, 14:00 – Arsenal vs Milan (Al Maktoum Stadium)
- December 14th – Travel back to London
- December 17th – Arsenal vs Juventus (Emirates Stadium)
- W/C December 19th – Rumoured 5th friendly (London Colney)
- December 26th – The Premier League returns