Arsenal will step up their Europa League Final preparations with a behind-closed-doors friendly against Austrian side LASK Linz on Thursday.
LASK finished second in the Austrian Bundesliga behind Red Bull Salzburg and will fly in to play at the Gunners’ London Colney training base.
Head coach Unai Emery is believed to value the importance of a competitive, high-intensity fixture to help maintain performance levels in the 17-day gap between the end of the Premier League season and facing Chelsea in Baku.
Earlier in the season, Emery arranges games against Crawley Town and Crystal Palace for similar reasons while in March they took advantage of another hiatus by travelling to Dubai to play Al-Nasr.
On Monday, Arsenal confirmed plans for this summer's Emirates Cup with the men's team facing Olympique Lyon and the women's team lining up against FC Bayern Frauen on July 28. It will be the only time during pre-season that fans will see the men's team in action at the Emirates Stadium.
