Arsenal vs Chelsea pre-season friendly will be men's & women's double header

Arsenal have confirmed that August’s pre-season friendly against Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium will be played in front of a ‘near-capacity’ crowd and will become a double header as the clubs’ women’s teams also go head to head that same afternoon.

The update follows confirmation that the government is ending remaining coronavirus restrictions in England from Monday 19 July, with the games set to take place on Sunday 1 August.

The meeting forms part of ‘The Mind Series’, which also includes both clubs also facing Tottenham. Funds raised from the series will be split between mental health charity Mind and each of the participating clubs’ own charitable foundations to support mental health projects.

Arsenal and Chelsea are due to kick-off at 3pm, but a ticket for the match also includes entry to the match between Arsenal women and Chelsea women at 12.15pm on the Emirates pitch.

It will be just the second time that Arsenal women have played at the stadium, and the first since a pre-season friendly against Bayern Munich in 2019.

Arsenal have already pledged further support and investment in the women’s team this season and beyond, with the club keen to provide more off-field and behind the scenes support, as well as creating ‘synergies’ between the various strands of the club.

“We've really changed the set-up behind the scenes quite significantly to make sure our players have everything they need to be successful on the pitch,” club chief Vinai Venkatesham recently said.

“We've significantly increased and enhanced the backroom staff that support our women's team, so we're bringing on board a new head of sports medicine and sports science, we've increased the staff in our medical team, we've brought on board a nutritionist, we've created a new individual development coach role, we've brought on more operations staff.”

*Mind (The National Association for Mental Health) is a charity with registered charity number 219830, set up to promote better mental health and relieve the needs of those with mental health problems.

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