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Ramsey and Vela included in squad to face Barnet
Arsène Wenger has named a 24-man squad for Saturday's opening pre-season fixture against Barnet.
The Arsenal manager will have a mixture of first-teamers and youth players at his disposal for the game at Underhill.
Manuel Almunia, Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna, Nicklas Bendtner and Theo Walcott are included while new signing Aaron Ramsey could make his debut. Carlos Vela is also in the squad after returning from his season-long loan spell with Osasuna in Spain.
Arsenal will wear their new home kit for the first time this Saturday but first-team squad numbers will not be used. Instead, the starting line-up will wear No 1 to No 11 while the substitutes will wear shirt No 12 to No 24.
Arsenal squad:
Manuel ALMUNIA (GK)
Nacer BARAZITE
Nicklas BENDTNER
Gael CLICHY
DENILSON
James DUNNE
Rui FONTE
Gavin HOYTE
Justin HOYTE
Henri LANSBURY
Vito MANNONE (GK)
Havard NORDTVEIT
Abu OGOGO
Aaron RAMSEY
Mark RANDALL
Paul RODGERS
Bacary SAGNA
Jay SIMPSON
Rene STEER
Wojciech SZCZESNY (GK)
Armand TRAORE
Carlos VELA
Theo WALCOTT
Jack WILSHERE
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Either via Arsenal Online TV (which u'll need to pay) or here.
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Barnet 1-2 Arsenal
Arsenal's squad featured a multitude of players promoted from the reserves in seasons gone by to give them a taste of first team action in the Gunner's first friendly of pre-season. Nordveit, a promising Norweigan centre-back found himself on the starting sheet, as did Lansbury, Traore, and new signing Aaron Ramsey made his debut.
The first half was uninspiring, but Ramsey looked the best player on the pitch as he sent some Beckham-esque passes upfield to the overlapping Sagna.
Barnet's goal arrived via a Gillet free kick. Almunia looked frustrated after setting up what he thought would have been a capable wall, only to be beaten by his far corner, after everyone in the wall failed to either charge the ball down, or jump to block it.
The second half was more pleasing to the eye as the young guns played with more tempo and increased urgency.
Substitute Jack Wilshere changed the game for Arsenal starting moves that secured two goals for the gunners. It will be interesting to see how he is used this coming season, you will imagine he will be limited to League Cup appearances in order to protect him, much in the same manner as Theo Walcott when the former Southampton player first arrived at the club.
The Arsenal goals came from Jay Simpson, and Nacer Barazite. Simpson was played into the box and he shot across the keeper, on instinct. For Arsenal's second, Barazite received a cross into the area before beating the keeper with an nice shot that was aided into the net off the post.
Arsenal boss Wenger will be more pleased with his reserve team players, who were all brought on for the second half, than the bland first team that started before the break.
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