The likes of Mesut Ozil, Laurent Koscielny, Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey are all likely to miss the opening day Premier League match against Liverpool next month due to their prolonged shift for their respective countries at Euro 2016.
The North London club welcome the Merseysiders on the opening day match at the Emirates Stadium with the game scheduled on 14th of August.
However, with four of our players reaching the semi-finals of the tournament, it looks we are going to be without some of our key players when Jurgen Klopp’s squad arrives at the Emirates Stadium.
Ramsey has been impressive for Wales during the Euro’s before they were knocked out by Portugal on Wednesday, with the 25-year-old box to box midfield missing the match due to suspension.
Arsene Wenger has always maintained that his players will be given four weeks off to rest following the Euro 2016 and Ramsey has confirmed that he’s not due to get back to the club for pre-season training until August 1st – in less than fortnight before we play Liverpool.
Sky Sports reported Ramsey quoted as saying:
“I am back on August 1, so I have a few weeks off but, obviously, it kicks off a couple of weeks afterwards,”
“A few years ago, Germany won the World Cup and the German players came in just a few days before the first game of the season, but they missed that.
“[Arsene Wenger] does like to give players a little break and I’ll be getting the same treatment. I feel I need a few weeks off now.”
Koscielny and Giroud are still in the running have reached the Sunday’s final, which could cause them not to be present in for the pre-season training, so they won’t start preparation until possibly on the 1st of August
Wenger accepted the fact that he regretted rushing Alexis Sanchez back to action last season after he featured against the Hammers on the opening day of last season with only one week of pre-season training due to his late arrival from the Copa America.
Luckily the tournament ended earlier this term and despite the 27-year-old ace going all the way to claim the trophy, Sanchez has been on holiday for close to two weeks and he is due to return to training late this month, so he might be available to face Liverpool.
However, unluckily there is a good chance that Ozil, Ramsey, Giroud, and Koscielny will not feature against the Merseysiders as I’m sure Wenger, won’t want to make the same mistake he did for Sanchez last season.
Losing these players will definitely weaken us against resurrecting Liverpool side and it might also mean that Yaya Sanogo may start the season if Wenger fails to sign any striker. Let’s hope Wenger signs a new striker because, personally I don’t even want Giroud to lead us up front next season.
