Atletico Madrid vs Arsenal
It’s weird seeing Arsenal without Arsene Wenger. Besides their names, Wenger, for 22 years, was synonymous with Gunners football.
However, it all came to an end last season, with Wenger deciding to call it quits and Unai Emery replacing him as new manager to usher a new era at the North London club.
Now, we’ll get to see the start of something new for Arsenal. The club, once a model of consistency, failed to finish in the top four of the Premier League over the past two years and Emery is now up to the task of bringing them back to relevance.
The International Champions Cup may not be the best competition out there to introduce the new-look Gunners, but against Atletico Madrid, Emery couldn’t have it any better.
Talking Points
With two powerhouses of world football pitted against each other, SBOBET odds point to an interesting affair in Singapore.
Even though the ICC is nothing more than just a glorified friendly, there are still of plenty of things to look forward to, especially with Arsenal boasting a relatively complete lineup along with a plethora of new signings.
The likes of Jack Wilshere (free transfer), Per Mertesacker (retired) and Takuma Asano (loan) are gone from the Arsenal fold, but Emery has brought in the likes of Stephan Lichsteiner from Juventus, Bernd Leno from Bayer Leverkusen, Sokratis Papastathopoulos from Dortmund, Lucas Torreira from Sampdoria and Matteo Guendouzi from Lorient.
Out of the five, Lichsteiner and Torrerira won’t be with the team in Singapore as they continue to recover following their World Cup stints. Meanwhile, Leno, Papastathopoulos and Guendouzi are all with the squad and will be keen to impress Emery when they take on the Madrid giants.
It shouldn’t also be forgotten that Arsenal have their deadly trio of Mesut Ozil, Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ready for the ICC.
Lacazette and Aubameyang were both on target in the club’s friendly against Boreham Wood earlier this month, with the former even bagging a hat-trick and an assist.
On the other hand, Ozil looks more motivated than ever following his retirement from international football.
The German international was often criticised for playing better when donning the Die Mannschaft shirt than the red, white and blue; but now that Arsenal have Ozil’s complete and undivided attention, expectations are high that the Gunners can get the best out of him.
Atletico Madrid, meanwhile, will also look to test their new signings in the game. The team already have four new players so far, including former Monaco winger Thomas Lemar, ex-Villareal midfielder Rodri and Real Betis standout Antonio Adan.
Unfortunately, Lemar won’t be with the team along with fellow France teammate and Atletico star Antoine Griezmann. Both players were given extended rest after helping Les Bleus win the World Cup 2018.
Kevin Gameiro is reportedly on his way out and is unlikely to feature for Los Rojiblancos as well. With Fernando Torres also gone, it will be interesting to see who Diego Simeone will choose to start up front beside Angel Correa.
History
It hasn’t been long since these two sides met. In fact, it has been only three months since they faced each other on a football field.
Atletico Madrid beat Arsenal in the semi-finals of the Europa League with a 2-1 aggregate. They played a 1-1 draw in the first leg at the Emirates Stadium before Simeone’s side eked out a 1-0 win at the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano a week later.
As we all know, however, this is now a different Arsenal team. The Gunners are coming off an 8-0 drubbing of Boreham Wood and appear more than ready to take on any team.
In contrast, Atletico Madrid haven’t played in more than two months. They last featured in a hybrid friendly against Nigeria’s B team, a game which saw them come out on top 3-2.
Moreover, it should be noted that it was Antoine Griezmann and Diego Costa who scored for Atletico in their recent fixtures against Arsenal. As mentioned above, Griezmann won’t feature in the ICC while Costa is also absent.
What are the odds?
Given that Atletico will be without key players in this match, it’s not surprising to see Arsenal ahead in the ICC outright odds.
The Gunners are tipped to win with 1X2 @ 2.25, while the Madrid club is at 3.00 and the draw at 3.30.
Fans, nonetheless, can look forward to an all-out attacking affair. Total Goal 2-3 is at 1.83 while 4-6 is the next likely result at 3.10.
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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