Pre-Season Update

The Arsenal players are now back from their holidays and are back in training getting ready for their pre-season tour of Asia. The Gunners' first match will be against the Malaysia XI on Wednesday 13th July at 13:45 and they will finish their tour against Hangzhou Greentown on Saturday 16th July at 12:30. A week later Arsenal will be in Germany for a game against FC Cologne which kicks off at 14:30.

The week after, Arsenal will be back in England for their annual Emirates Cup at the Emirates Stadium. This year it will consist of Argentinian side Boca Juniors, French side Paris Saint German, American side New York Red Bulls, who now have former Gunner Thierry Henry among their side and, of course, Arsenal will be taking part in the Competition. The tournament will take place on the 30th when Arsenal will play Boca Juniors and PSG will face New York Red Bulls. It will then continue the next day when Arsenal play New York Red Bulls and Boca Juniors face PSG.

The Gunners will then play one more friendly as they prepare for the new campaign with a trip to Portugal, to face Benfica on Saturday 6th August. Arsenal have a tricky start to the new season as they first face Newcastle and then play Liverpool and Manchester United in the same month after mid week games in the Champions League qualifying stages. (Opponent has yet to be announced).

Meanwhile Arsenal secured their first summer signing by securing the services of 19 year old English born, Finnish defender Carl Jenkinson, from Charlton for an undisclosed fee thought to be around £1 million. He has taken the number 25 shirt formally worn by striker Emmanuel Adebayor. Arsenal have also officially welcomed 18 year old Japenese midfielder, Ryo Miyaichi into their side after sending him out on loan to Dutch side Feyenoord for the rest of the season after the Gunners signed him in January.

Arsenal also released their new away kit for the 2011/12 season. The kit will feature two different shades of blue with the left hand side being covered in a navy blue and the other side in a sky blue. The kit will also feature the 125th anniversary crest which has been designed especially for the new season. The goalkeeper shirt will be a dark green with part of the sleeves being striped with light green and black.