Hibs v Arsenal: Kick-off time, how to watch, pre-season friendly details

Hibs host Arsenal tomorrow night in their first pre-season friendly at Easter Road.

Hibs are put through their paces at the training centre ahead of the Arsenal friendly

Jack Ross’ side beat Dunfermline Athletic 4-1 at the club’s training centre before a 1-0 defeat by Accrington Stanley during the Capital club’s training camp at Mottram Hall in Cheshire, and a 1-1 draw with Stoke City at the bet365 Stadium.

The Gunners will be without a handful of players but a number of first-team stars have made the short trip north of the Border for a training camp in Scotland. Mikel Arteta’s side take on Rangers at Ibrox on Saturday after meeting Hibs while the Hibees head to Fife on Friday night to face Raith Rovers in Iain Davidson’s testimonial.

Here’s what you need to know...

Match details

Who: Hibs v Arsenal

What: Pre-season friendly

Where: Easter Road stadium, Edinburgh

When: 6pm, Tuesday, July 13, 2021

How to watch

While a small number of home fans will be in attendance, those who won’t be in the ground can watch the match for £7.99 on Hibs TV, with Dougie Donnelly hosting coverage along with Joelle Murray and John Hughes.

Team news

Christian Doidge won’t be involved as he continues his recovery from Covid-19, while new signing Daniel Mackay is a doubt after picking up a knock.

Apart from that, Hibs should have a near full squad to choose from.

Arsenal will have a number of first-teamers available including Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette. Hector Bellerin has travelled along with Nicolas Pepe, Thomas Partey, and Emile Smith Rowe while Sead Kolasinac, Joe Willock, Pablo Mari, and Cedric Soares could all feature.

Kieran Tierney, Bernd Leno, Granit Xhaka, Lucas Torreira, Bukayo Saka, and William Saliba are among those who haven’t travelled.

Previous meetings

The two sides have met on three occasions, with Arsenal winning two and the other resulting in a draw. The first meeting in 1926 was part of the deal taking goakeeper Willie Hamilton from Hibs to Arsenal and ended in a 5-0 victory for the Gunners, with Edinburgh-born and Grassmarket-raised inside forward Jimmy Logie scoring a hat-trick, while in 1952 the sides met in the first ever televised match, and first floodlit game at Highbury, with the hosts winning 7-1 – Lawrie Reilly scoring Hibs’ consolation goal.

The most recent meeting in 1955 at Easter Road finished 2-2 with Reilly again on target along with Eddie Turnbull. Hibs were actually leading 2-0 with around 15 minutes to play until Doug Lishman and Jimmy Bloomfield earned the Londoners a draw.

Anything else?

A number of players have worn the iconic shirts of both clubs, most notably Joe Baker, Alex Cropley, Wilie Harper, Johnny MacLeod, and Peter Marinello, while current Easter Road goalkeeper Matt Macey joined Hibs from Arsenal in January.

Other players to have spent time with both clubs include Daniel Boateng, Dean Shiels, Anthony Stokes, Graham Stack, and Jim Leighton, who spent time on loan at Highbury from Manchester United in 1991.

Former Gunners Robert Pires and Patrick Vieira turned out for Hibs during Ian Murray’s testimonial while Jermaine Pennant appeared as a trialist for Hibs in 2017.

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