Arsenal will now be participating in the Community Shield following the result in the FA Cup final, and their pre-season plans are set to be altered, Charles Watts has revealed.

Who do Arsenal play in pre-season?

The Gunners are set to travel to the USA for part of their preparations, and could even stage The Emirates Cup, a two-day tournament which has been held in north London on several occasions over the years.

Manchester City beating their rivals Manchester United in the FA Cup final means that Arsenal are now set to compete in the annual season-opener at Wembley, as a result of their second-placed finish behind City, and this will now change their preparations.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Watts revealed that the Emirates Cup, which is typically played over the course of a weekend, could be staged midweek because of the Community Shield.

"Arsenal are going to be in the Community Shield, we know that is another fixture scheduled into the pre-season calendar, it's going to be Arsenal vs Manchester City at I presume Wembley," he stated.

"This one is going to be at Wembley on August 6th, whether that's Arsenal's final pre-season game of the summer, I'm not yet sure, and there's talk that they might have the Emirates Cup, I'm not sure it hasn't been confirmed yet.

"I heard that it might be squeezed in on a midweek, but I can't imagine they would do it on a midweek, I don't know.

"So you've got obviously the game in Germany, which we're expecting to be confirmed at some point against Nuremberg, I believe, and then the trip to USA with three games there against the All Stars, Barcelona, and Man United, then the Manchester City game in the Community Shield and potentially an Emirates Cup, but we'll wait and see on that, but certainly a pre-season now taking shape."

When is the Community Shield?

Although pre-season is mostly focused on fitness and preparation for the new season, the Community Shield played on could be a significant game for Arsenal as they aim to challenge for the title again.

The game at Wembley is expected to be played around 5/6 August ahead of the Premier League campaign kicking off.

The Gunners fell just short of Man City after leading the league for most of the season, and with eight losses in a row against Pep Guardiola's side, they can make a statement ahead of the campaign that they are going to build upon their progress.

Arsenal have beaten City in three of their last four encounters at Wembley Stadium, which included the 2014 Community Shield, as well as two FA Cup semi-finals, but they have found themselves on the losing side to the Champions too many times in the past few seasons.