Walcott claims level of MLS is close to Premier League

“It’s another game in a long line of great opponents for MLS to be testing itself against the best clubs in the world”, says Chris Alexopolous, ESPN’s lead soccer producer and a veteran of every ESPN soccer event since 1998.

The 27-year-old admits he is thrilled to be playing against the All-Stars and believes the gap is closing between the MLS and the Premier League.

Aaron Ramsey, Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny were all left out of the squad to take more time off ahead of the Premier League season. Names like Didier Drogba and Sebastian Giovinco give MLS a chance to pull off a third straight victory, if the defense and the goalkeeping can keep pace. The Gunners have been on a training camp in France where they played out a 1-1 draw with Ligue 1 outfit RC Lens.

If the MLS all-stars beat Arsenal, so what?

David Villa has been a real threat ever since joining New York City. A 6-1 win for the Americans showed maybe it was too early for such an experiment given the makeup of the league and the next three years MLS went back to the East-West showdown.

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The game will take place at the Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California.

However, it can not be overlooked that the MLS selection are all in the middle of domestic campaign with their club sides and have no experience of playing as a collective.

The MLS All-Stars head into Thursday’s game searching for their third successive win in this series, having won against Tottenham Hotspur and German champions Bayern Munich in the last two editions.

There is plenty to consider for Wenger, then, as the Frenchman enters the a year ago of his current contract under enormous pressure to win a first Premier League title since 2004 – or at least make a decent fist of doing so after a series of spluttering attempts to keep pace with the division’s front runners.

“My first impression (of the US) is that there are more and more people who love football and know our players, and that’s a good sign that football is taking off in the States”, Wenger said.

“I don’t care at all about that”, he said.

“It’s incredible not just because of the stadiums and academies and the TV, but obviously the names that are being attracted to come play here”, the Earthquakes coach said.