Hipster Gooner: Preview: Emirates Cup, Arsenal v. AC Milan and Celtic

Cesc Fabregas's 84th minute goal at the San Siro eliminated AC Milan from the 2008 Champions League. Pic via Guardian.

Emirates Stadium, London

Saturday, July 31 and Sunday, August 1

16:20 BST, 11:20 a.m. EDT

About AC Milan

Milan were founded in 1899 as a cricket club by British expatriots from Nottingham. In honor of this history, the club retains the English spelling "Milan" instead of the Italian "Milano."
A disagreement over the signing of foreign players in 1908 led to a split and the formation of Milan's rival, Internazionale.
After this, Milan did not win a domestic title again until 1951.
In 1963, they defeated Benfica to win their first European Cup.
Milan was relegated to Serie B after a match fixing scandal in 1980.
They were involved in another match fixing scandal in 2006 and were supposed to be docked 15 points and suspended from the 2006-07 Champions League. On appeal, the points deduction was reduced to 8 and they were permitted to enter the European tournament, which they subsequently won.
Milan have won 17 Serie A titles, five Coppa Italia titles (Italy's domestic tournament,) and seven European titles.

About Celtic

Established in 1887, Celtic played their first match one year later.
Celtic won the Quintuple in 1967, winning the Scottish League, Cup, and League Cup, plus the Glasgow Cup, and European Cup.
That European Cup was a first for a team from Great Britain.
From 1966 to 1974, Celtic won nine consecutive Scottish titles. That world record was equalled by their rivals, Rangers, in 1997.
They have won 42 Scottish league titles, 34 Scottish Cups, 14 League Cups, and one European title.
The last time a team other than Celtic or Rangers won a Scottish title was 1985 and Aberdeen.

The Emirates Cup

Arsenal won the competition last year after two wins, a wild finish in a 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid (Arshavin 86, 90; Pacheco 88) and a 3-0 win over Rangers (Wilshere 2, 72, Eduardo 11.) Jack Wilshere was named Man of the Match in both games.
Arsenal won the inaugural competition in 2007, beating PSG 2-1 (Flamini 45, Bendtner 70; Luyindula 80) and Inter Milan 2-1 (Hleb 67, van Persie 85; Suazo 62.)
Arsenal lost the cup in 2008 to Hamburg, whom they did not play over that weekend. Arsenal lost to Juventus 1-0 (Trezeguet 37) and beat Real Madrid 1-0 (Adebayor 49 pen.)
In the Emirates Cup, teams get three points for a win, one point for a draw, nothing for a loss, plus an extra point for each goal scored. The tie-breakers are goal difference, goals scored, and total shots.
The fourth team in this year's tournament, whom Arsenal will not play, is Lyon.

Arsenal News and Notes

A quartet of players either certainly won't or may not be fit for the season opener at Anfield in two weeks. Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie don't return from vacation until the 5th of August and Nicklas Bendtner remains out with a groin injury. The fourth is, of course, Aaron Ramsey.
Three midfielders (Alex Song, Abou Diaby, and Denilson) will all miss the weekend tournament with injuries as well. They should all return on the 7th in Warsaw.
Arsenal still need to sign at least one more center half in order to have four established players at the position. Even with this in mind, Arsene Wenger has moved the young Havard Nordtveit to the right side. Only Bacary Sagna now naturally plays the position; his cover, if necessary, is Emmanuel Eboue.
Arsenal goalkeepers, disastrous as they are, have yet to concede a goal in the pre-season. Vito Mannone has stopped a penalty. Very few have had much work, though.

Hipster Gooner