As I'm sure you know by now, Man City kicked off the 2024-25 season by besting Man U in the Community Shield after Bernardo Silva equalised late on and won in the ensuing shoot-out.

They've started the season then with silverware, something they haven't done in five years.

With our own preseason Emirates Cup kicking off on Sunday, we have a chance at starting our season with silverware of our own even if it rates just a smidge lower than the Community Shield.

Previous iterations have seen us invite three other clubs to the Emirates, but it's been a one-off since 2019.

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which Lyon won.

Other than pointing out that Man City have been very, very quiet in the transfer market, other than their sale of Julian Alvarez and purchase of Savinho, we can set aside the Man City angle in order to focus on Olympique Lyonnais, OL, or, more simply, Lyon.

First things first: as I'm sure we all know, Alexandre Lacazette has returned to Lyon and has promptly resumed the form that prompted us to sign him from Lyon back in 2017.

He's scored 53 times in 74 games, the kind of scoring that might have been helpful to us had he been able to deliver that rate of return in the Prem.

I'm not insinuating that the Prem is a bit tougher that Ligue 1, but I'm not sure how to end that sentence either.

Ahem.

At any rate, Lacazette played for France at the Olympics and won't be available.

Also recognisable would be Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who joined Lyon back in 2023.

He's hung in there but never really impressed.

For what it's worth, there are a few other somewhat-familiar faces who've joined Lyon as their careers wind down: Dejan Lovren (Southampton and Liverpool), Said Benrahma (Brentford and West Ham), and Nemanja Matic (Chelsea and Man U).

Head coach Pierre Sage prefers a 4-3-3 but is known for his flexibility and will almost certainly tailor his tactics and formation to who's available and how his squad matches up with ours.

One area we'll have to mind would be set-pieces, perhaps even more so in Lacazette's absence.

Lyon scored 12 set-piece goals - the division's third-highest tally.

We were solid in defending set-pieces last season, but these situations can sometimes amount to little more than a roll of the dice.

At the other end of the pitch, we'll have to draw just a wee bit of confidence from the fact that Lyon conceded 55 in 34 matches-including 30 first-half goals, and they have a tendency to start slowly while relying on late equalisers.

At a risk of overstating things, we could see a very entertaining first half, given our propensity to launch out of the starting gate and defend doggedly.

One player to watch will be midfielder Maxence Caqueret.

He's a box-to-box type who does a lot to make Lyon tick.

I suspect that we'll see Rice, Partey, and Odegaard at the heart of our 4-3-3, and I suspect that Rice and Partey will give Caqueret all that he can handle.

Should it be Jorginho instead of Partey, I suspect that the story will be essentially the same.

If nothing else, we are the seven-time winners of our own pointless preseason friendly, and it would be nice to win it for the third consecutive season and fifth time in six tries.

Winning it might not give us quite the same boost as winning the Community Shield, but it's a far cry better than losing it.

My prediction: Arsenal 3-0 Lyon.

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