Arsenal include Sanchez and Ramsey in squad for trip to Scandinavia

• Gunners face Viking on Thursday and Manchester City on Sunday
• Koscielny, Giroud and Ozil granted extra time off after Euro 2016

Posted Thursday, August 04, 2016 by theguardian.com

Arsene Wenger has included two of his big guns for Arsenal's Scandinavia tour but has given extended breaks to Laurent Koscielny, Olivier Giroud and Mesut Ozil.

Arsene Wenger will include Alexis Sanchez and Aaron Ramsey in his party for Arsenal's friendlies in Scandinavia against Viking FK and Manchester City as he looks to get them into shape for the Premier League opener at home to Liverpool on Sunday week.

The manager is not expected to include Jack Wilshere, who has what has been described as a minor knee injury. The midfielder sustained the problem during the club's trip to the US and he was unable to play in the victory against Chivas on Sunday.

Arsenal travel to Norway on Thursday, where they face Viking on Friday before they move to Sweden for the game against City on Sunday. Wenger will not take Laurent Koscielny, Olivier Giroud or Mesut Ozil on the mini-tour, after he granted them extra time off after Euro 2016. Koscielny and Giroud played in the final for France, which they lost to Portugal, while Ozil featured in Germany's semi-final defeat against France.

Ramsey and Sanchez returned to training at the beginning of this week. Ramsey reached the semi-final of the European Championship with Wales, although he was suspended for that game – the defeat against Portugal – and so his last involvement was in the quarter-final win against Belgium on 1 July.

Sanchez won the Copa América with Chile for the second summer in succession and he featured in the final against Argentina on 27 June – a game in which he damaged an ankle.

Wenger continues to track the Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette and the Valencia centre-half Shkodran Mustafi, as he seeks to finalise his squad. He has already seen a £29.5m offer for Lacazette turned down but it is understood that the French club would consider a sale if Arsenal came back with a higher bid. Mustafi is valued by Valencia at £25m.