By Daily Sports on July 20, 2017

Arsenal were ravaged by food poisoning in Shanghai that ruled several key players out of their pre-season friendly with Bayern Munich on Wednesday, manager Arsene Wenger said.

Wenger’s ailing men were outplayed for long periods by Bayern before salvaging a last-gasp 1-1 draw and then winning 3-2 on penalties. But the Frenchman said that the sickness that had swept the Arsenal camp, coupled with the severe heat in China and long flights, made for far-from-ideal preparations for another taxing campaign.

Wenger was shorn of Olivier Giroud because of food poisoning, then captain Per Mertesacker pulled out of the game just moments before kick-off because he too fell ill with the same problem. New signing Sead Kolasinac had to come off before the break, while substitutes Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott both also felt unwell.

Arsenal were particularly poor in the first half in the 36 degrees Celsius (97F) heat and Wenger admitted that the extreme conditions in Shanghai were “a shock” after flying in from Australia, which is in its winter.

“We worked very hard on Monday and Tuesday so I was a bit scared that tonight we could have big problems and in fact in the first half we suffered a bit,” said Wenger, under pressure to get Arsenal back in the Champions League this season.

“Ramsey finished the game (feeling) bad and Walcott, Kolasinac, Mertesacker, Giroud, they all had a little food poisoning.”

Wenger said the Premier League club — who next travel to Beijing to face Chelsea on Saturday — did not know what caused the food poisoning.

Wenger added of the punishing pre-season schedule that many top European clubs now undertake to far-flung destinations for commercial reasons: “If you ask me is it ideal physically to prepare? I’d say certainly not.“

Has it got other advantages? Yes because we can meet fans all over the world so that is very positive and the team bonding is easier as well because we live together for two weeks.” (Vanguard)

•Photo shows Arsenal players before China friendly match. Photo: AFP.

Source Daily Sports

Posted July 20, 2017

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