Arsenal 1 – 0 Sydney LIVE: Mertesacker opens the scoring, Lacazette on the bench

HT: Nigel Winterburn has praised the senior players for their influence on the youngsters. Messy Ozil has been particularly impressive pulling the strings from midfield.

HT: The big question is how many changes with Arsene Wenger make at the break? Having promised to play Alexandre Lacazette during yesterday’s press conference – you would imagine he’ll get a decent amount of action.

HT: ARSENAL 1 – 0 SYDNEY FC

45: Sydney goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne, who actually had trials with Arsenal as a youngster, is doing a decent job of keeping the scoreline respectable.

43: Weiss Nelson with a decent cross into the area, but there’s nobody waiting to meet it. 17-year-old Joe Willock then powers through the middle before turning Sydney’s centre-back out of the stadium and seeing his shot saved.

40: Arsenal just taking their foot off the gas a little towards the end of the half. No need to bust a gut during pre-season, which is coincidentally what I said during 5-a-side the other night…

37: Woodwork! Sydney should have pulled level with their first attack of the match.

Per Mertesacker is left for dead by Brilliante (yes, that’s actually his name) before Simon blasts Cech’s parry into the post.

Theo Walcott then charges down the other end and sees his shot saved, before Coquelin suffers the same fate with the rebound.

35: Danny Welbeck not quite getting the rub of the green. A few blocked shots and dodgy touches have stopped him from getting on the scoresheet. 

The former Manchester United player might be feeling the pressure of having to keep Alexandre Lacazette AND Olivier Giroud out of the starting XI.

32: Bloody hell, Sydney have had the ball for over 30 seconds! ArsenalTV don’t like that very much so decide to focus the camera on Alexandre Lacazette until Arsenal win it back.

28: ARSENAL 1 – 0 SYDNEY FC

This 3-4-3 system is working very nicely for Arsenal. Arsene Wenger hadn’t used it for about 20 years but having used it against Middlesbrough towards the end of last season – he’s not looked back.

I guess if you want to be pedantic about it, you could call it a 3-4-2-1 with Mesut Ozil and Theo Walcott behind Danny Welbeck.

But we don’t do pedantic here.

24: Some bloke off Twitter: “Not even 20 minutes into the first pre-season game of the season and I’m already super pumped for the future of Reiss Nelson.” I remember a few people saying the same about Alex Iwobi not too long ago…

21: Not seeing much love for Arsenal’s new black and pink third kit, but there’s plenty for Reiss Nelson. He’s quick, confident and has more tricks than Penn & Teller.

Arsenal win a free-kick, although it probably should have been a penalty for handball. Danny Welbeck goes for a cheeky dig but it’s deflected for a corner, which Bielik heads over.

17: Sydney FC have clearly been reading from the book of Pulis. One copy sold worldwide. It’s route one stuff but Bielik, Mertesacker and Kolasinac are mopping up everything.

Danny Welbeck latches onto Nelson’s short pass but blazes it over from an acute angle. Half-chance for Walcott from a corner but he nods it wide.

14: Arsenal making light work of the Australian champions here. I know it’s only pre-season, but try telling that to Willock, Nelson and Bramall. I’m knackered just watching them.

10: Nice stuff from Bramall. He plays a neat one-two with Danny Welbeck before dragging his shot wide. If he’d have looked up, he would have seen Theo Walcott in acres of space.

7: Theo Walcott goes on a signature driving run but his shot deflects into the path of Nelson, whose cross is blocked before Danny Welbeck can reach it.

4: ARSENAL 1 – 0 SYDNEY FC – PER MERTESACKER

Well, that didn’t take long. Sydney fail to deal with a corner and captain Per Mertesacker is there to tuck it home with a swivelling finish from close range.

2: Pretty dominant start from the Premier League side. Kolasinac has already been involved a couple of times down the left flank and delivered a teasing ball that Sydney clear. 

1: ARSENAL 0 – 0 SYDNEY FC

Ok, we’re off folks. Packed stadium and more fireworks than you can shake a stick at.

11:00: We’re almost underway folks. The players are just emerging from the tunnel now. Big Per leads Arsenal out.

10:55: Arsene Wenger’s got his PR skills down. He’s just spent five minutes in an interview saying what a great country Australia is, and how he couldn’t believe it was so big. He genuinely knew how many square kilometres there are. 

They don’t call him the professor for nothing.

10:50: This presenter on ArsenalTV has just described Arsenal legend Nigel Winterburn as an “antique”. That’s how to treat a guest, mate. Asked what he’s been up to this summer, Winterburn responded: “Spent a lot of time in the garden…” Thanks, Nige.

10:45: We’re currently being treated to some of the most horrific music known to man as we await coverage. Whoever picked that should be dismissed immediately. Worse than that rapper at the Connor McGregor/Floyd Mayweather press conference in Toronto last night…

10:40: ArsenalFanTV must be making a few quid. I’ve just seen Robbie’s over in Australia filming. No sign of Claude though… devvo’d would be an understatement.

10:35: There’s just under 25 minutes until the game begins folks. Blimey, I’ve just seen that you can actually bet on today’s game.

Alexandre Lacazette is 125/1 to score a hat-trick with Arsenal to win 4-0. Yes please…

10:30: Thoughts on Arsenal’s new third kit? I think it looks pretty snazzy myself. Did I really just use the word snazzy? I’ve morphed into my dad over the summer apparently…

Anyway, the biggest thing supporters took from the launch was seeing Chilean Alexis Sanchez in the promotion pictures.

Does this mean he’s staying? Has he agreed a new deal? Are Manchester City not interested anymore? More questions than answers for Arsenal fans. Pre-season conspiracy theories at their very best.

10:25: I’m assuming you’ve all seen that Fantasy Football has started again? Good, you’re an addict like me.

Alexandre Lacazette has been priced at 10.5m, while Alexis Sanchez is a whopping 12m. I’m sure there’s a few FPL managers watching intently to see if the Frenchman can produce the goods…

10:20: Alexandre Lacazette and Olivier Giroud are among the substitutes today. We shouldn’t read too much into it, BUT I’m sure everyone will consider whoever replaces Danny Welbeck first to be Arsene Wenger’s first-choice this season…

Come on, that’s what pre-season is all about, right?

10:15: Subs: Lacazette, Giroud, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Iwobi, Montreal, Martinez, Xhaka, Maitland-Niles, Elneny, Malen, Nketiah.

10:10: That’s today’s starting XI folks. As I’ve already mentioned, Alexandre Lacazette doesn’t start but Arsene Wenger has given a debut to Sead Kolasinac.

The former Schalke defender has been deployed at centre-back alongside Per Mertesacker and Krystian Bielik in a 3-4-3 formation.

Further forward we see the familiar faces of Mesut Ozil and Theo Walcott supporting Danny Welbeck with some talented youngsters dotted around the midfield.

10:05: Arsenal XI: Cech, Bielik, Mertesacker, Kolasinac, Coquelin, Willock, Nelson, Bramall, Ozil, Walcott, Welbeck.

10:00: Good morning folks! Welcome to our LIVE coverage of Arsenal’s pre-season opener against Sydney FC.

We’ll be getting our first glimpse of £52.7million signing Alexandre Lacazette today.

He’s NOT starting the match, but Arsene Wenger has promised that we’ll be seeing him at some point. Brace yourselves for the Twitter fume IF he fails to net against these Australian lads…

Express Sport brings you LIVE coverage of Arsenal’s pre-season opener against Sydney FC (11am BST)

Arsene Wenger has confirmed the club’s new record signing Alexandre Lacazette will make his debut against Sydney FC.

“Lacazette will make his debut here, yes,” Wenger said. “On Thursday night he will certainly play a part in the game and in the other game as well. In the two games he will take part.”

Lacazette is joined in the squad by the club’s other summer signing, Bosnia-Herzegovina international Sead Kolasinac, who is also set to feature.

Arsenal have two matches in Australia before travelling to China for friendlies against league rivals and champions Chelsea and German title holders Bayern Munich.

Elsewhere, there is no place in Arsenal’s squad for defenders Kieran Gibbs, Mathieu Debuchy and Carl Jenkinson, or striker Lucas Perez, whose agent has said he wants to leave the club.

Goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, who spent the last two seasons on loan at Roma, has also not travelled amid reports of a move to Juventus.

Forward Alexis Sanchez and defender Shkodran Mustafi are not included following their Confederations Cup exploits, while defenders Hector Bellerin, Calum Chambers and Rob Holding, who were involved at the Under-21 European Championship, are not on the tour.

Arsenal tour squad: Petr Cech, Emi Martinez, David Ospina, Krystian Bielik, Cohen Bramall, Francis Coquelin, Mohamed Elneny, Olivier Giroud, Alex Iwobi, Sead Kolasinac, Laurent Koscielny, Alexandre Lacazette, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Donyell Malen, Per Mertesacker, Nacho Monreal, Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey, Theo Walcott, Danny Welbeck, Joe Willock, Granit Xhaka.