PHOTOS: Arsenal arrive at Emirates Stadium to play friendly against Charlton

The Gunners return to Premier League action on June 17th and are ramping up their preparations for the restart by playing a friendly against Charlton Athletic at the Emirates Stadium today.

It has been widely reported over the last few days that Arsenal are interested in setting up a few behind-closed-doors friendlies to help the squad improve their match fitness. West Ham United are reported to have contacted Mikel Arteta’s side for the same reason.

Charlton striker Lyle Taylor has confirmed that the Addicks will face off against Arsenal at the Emirates today. He commented on an Instagram post by a Charlton Athletic fan page that was reporting a friendly between Charlton and Crystal Palace.

Just been for a run round the emirates and as I’m coming down the ramp the whole squad start pulling up in the car park. All in their own cars, full kit on. Mad. pic.twitter.com/FAsGOfWSXK

— Sam (@the_cannon) June 6, 2020

During the club’s ‘Arsenal Together’ charity fundraiser event, club captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang sounded optimistic about the physical condition of the squad prior to the restart.

Discussing the difficulty of his team’s opening assignment away to Manchester City, Aubameyang said:

“I don’t know if it will be harder or easier [behind-closed-doors]. But the only thing for sure I know is that they are a great team and it will be hard for sure, we don’t expect it to be easier because of no fans in the stadium.”

“We will try our best and the positive thing that I saw is that all the players in our team are in shape and are feeling well, with a lot of power and a lot of freshness. They want to play, everybody is just waiting for the referee to whistle.”

David Ornstein of The Athletic had reported earlier that Arsenal were one of the first clubs in the Premier League to get training equipment like treadmills, Wattbikes and weights sent across to players’ houses through couriers to ensure that they maintained decent fitness levels.

The expectation is that today’s game against Charlton will be the first of up to two friendlies that Arenal will take part in. These friendlies will allow a Gunners squad that is in promising physical condition to continue making strides in the right direction in the buildup to the restart of their Premier League campaign.