Arsene Wenger is confident Arsenal’s pre-season schedule will sharpen his squad for a tough start in the Barclays Premier League.
Wenger stands to be without some of his big name international players when Liverpool visit the Emirates on the opening weekend.
The likes of Olivier Giroud, Mesut Ozil and Laurent Koscielny will be unavailable due to their extended participation at the 2016 European Championship.
That game is followed by a trip to the King Power Stadium to face defending champions, Leicester City, and the Frenchman says he is not bothered by their absence.
“Let’s not forget that we play Liverpool and Leicester in the first two games so we have to be ready physically and fitness-wise,” he told the club website.
“What has changed compared to 10 or 15 years ago is that the players come back basically fit today.
“There’s no overweight players anymore, there’s no players anymore who have not prepared or done their homework and you can start straight away with normal training. Before you had to dedicate two or three weeks first to get everybody to the stage where they can practice normally.
“[We want the players] to be as sharp as possible. Look at the schedule we have, it is a very difficult schedule and we must focus on the players who are here because they are certainly the players who will start the season.
“We have a nice variety. I wanted a game before we travelled to the States, and the States will be interesting as well. After that we travel to Scandinavia.”
Arsenal’s first pre-season game is away at Lens on July 22, and their trip to the USA takes in friendlies against and MLS All-Stars team and Chivas de Guadalajara.
The Gunners then play Norway’s Viking in Stavanger and Manchester City in Sweden.
