Players surprise Community Shield mascot

Ten-year-old Junior Gunner Lewie enjoyed the surprise of a lifetime during Arsenal's annual Members’ Day this week.

During a Q&A session with Mikel Arteta, Mathieu Flamini, Kieran Gibbs, Serge Gnabry, Alex Iwobi, Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey, host Nigel Mitchell sought out the Harrow youngster in his seat and invited him on stage.

With a little help from the players and Gunnersaurus, it was revealed that Lewie had been selected at random from more than 34,000 Junior Gunners to be Arsenal’s mascot for the Community Shield against Chelsea.

Lewie was presented with an Arsenal strip and Community Shield tickets in front of the Emirates Stadium crowd and explained that he would get to visit the Gunners' changing room before the game at Wembley and lead them onto the pitch for kick-off.

Arteta said afterwards: "Members’ Day has been fantastic and we really enjoyed surprising Lewie during the Q&A and letting him know he’d be our mascot for the Community Shield. He was quite overwhelmed I think but he’s obviously a huge Arsenal fan and excited to join us at Wembley on Sunday.”

When Lewie was selected and the club found out he would be attending Members’ Day, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to reveal the news to him. His family had not been told about the competition ahead of time and his father was just as surprised as Lewie to hear the news.

“I’m completely shocked, speechless really” said Lewie’s father. “He’s going to be walking Arsenal out at Wembley on Sunday, [I’m] very proud. It will be great, what an experience. It’s every kid’s dream to lead their team out at Wembley.”