Arsenal left London last night for their tour of Asia, but some of the team's biggest names, including want-away striker Robin van Persie, have been left behind in the British capital.
The Gunners will play a Malaysian select side in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, followed by a match against Manchester City on Friday in Beijing, and round out their tour with a game at Hong Kong Stadium against local champions Kitchee next Sunday.
However, van Persie, new signing Lukas Podolski, young gun Jack Wilshere, Czech star Tomas Rosicky and Frenchman Bacary Sagna will all miss the tour, either because of injury or because they are lacking fitness, according to Arsenal's website.
Their absence will be a huge disappointment to Arsenal fans in Hong Kong who snapped up all available tickets for the match.
Van Persie stunned Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger when he declared immediately after Euro 2012 that he wanted to leave the north London team because he felt the club's ambitions did not match his own.
That shock announcement prompted Manchester City and Juventus to start the chase for one of Europe's top strikers, and Manchester United are now firmly in the hunt as well.
