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Arsenal will play pre-season match in Malaysia

According to the club's official website, Arsenal have confirmed that they will play a preseason match this summer in Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia, where apparently they are crazy for Arsenal:

Arsenal Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis said: "Everyone at Arsenal Football Club is excited to be visiting Malaysia.

"The Club has a tradition of playing there going back to the 1960s. This will be our fourth visit to Malaysia, having last visited Kuala Lumpur in 1999.

"We enjoy huge support in Asia and this will help bring the Club closer to our fans out there."

This will be the first occasion in about a decade that Arsenal has gone farther than Eastern Europe for a preseason match. Arsène Wenger has been notoriously stubborn about his squad having to travel over long distances in their warmup to the season, but things are different now, apparently. The team will provide a match for the Malaysian national setup:

Arsène Wenger’s side take on a Malaysia XI at the Bukit Jalil Stadium, Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, July 13, kick off 8.45pm local time.

Malaysia is 13 hours ahead of eastern time, so...if you can roust yourself at 7:45 in the morning that day, you can watch a bit of preseason if the official site ends up showing it to subscribers.