Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has named his starting XI to face Lyon on day one of the 2015 Emirates Cup in North London.
Wenger has opted to make Petr Cech wait for his home debut, which will almost certainly come tomorrow against Wolfsburg.
Cech’s place in goal is taken by Damian Martinez, because David Ospina is still relaxing after the Copa America, while Wojciech Szczesny is on his way to sign a loan deal with Roma.
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Wenger has arguably named his strongest back four, although Nacho Monreal and Hector Bellerin may disagree.
Mattieu Debuchy, Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny and Kieran Gibbs will offer solid protection for Martinez, while Francis Coquelin and Aaron Ramsey, who may have disappointed Arsenal fans with his recent comments, start in midfield.
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Olivier Giroud leads the attack, supported by Alex Iwobi, Mesut Ozil and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Clement Grenier and Alexandre Lacazette – both of whom have been on Arsenal’s transfer radar in recent months – start for Lyon.
Of the subs named, six may be used by each team.
.@Arsenal team to play Lyon: Martinez, Debuchy, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Coquelin, Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ozil, Iwobi, Giroud
— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) July 25, 2015
.@Arsenal subs: Cech, Gabriel, Monreal, Chambers, Bellerin, Hayden, Arteta, Cazorla, Reine-Adelaide, Walcott, Akpom #EmiratesCup2015
— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) July 25, 2015
.@arsenal v Lyon teamsheet, you could win a signed copy in the comp #moosearsenal pic.twitter.com/jTWjcMEqq8
— Ian Abrahams (Moose) (@BroadcastMoose) July 25, 2015
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