Kieran Tierney has been left out of Arsenal's squad as they get their Premier League campaign underway today.
The Scotland international has not even been named amongst the substitutes by Mikel Arteta as the Gunners welcome Nottingham Forest to the Emirates.
Tierney's omission comes amid growing transfer speculation that he could leave the club this summer.
La Liga side Real Sociedad, Newcastle, Aston Villa and Celtic have all been linked with a move for Tierney but it remains to be seen where he will end up.
The 26-year-old does look set to leave Arsenal especially given current injury problems in Arteta's defence.
First-choice left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko is currently out injured and it looks like midfielder Thomas Partey will fill in at left-back today.
Meanwhile, Arteta believes Arsenal could hold an advantage of their Premier League rivals after getting their summer transfer business done early.
The Gunners spent over £200million to land Kai Havertz, Jurrien Timber and Declan Rice before the middle of July, with all three joining Arteta’s squad for the pre-season tour of the United States.
“I think it definitely helps, especially for the player and getting to the environment and getting set,” he said.
“Also for the coaches it is important, for the media, for the commercial for the clubs as well, especially when you go on tour to be certain and have the players you are going to have for the season so it was something very positive for us.
“We’ve done it and we had the intention to do it, sometimes it is possible, sometimes it is not.
“But we tried our best and we just have to focus on what we can do, the reasons we have done it and maximise the resources we have.”
Arsenal led the way at the top of the Premier League for much of last season before being reeled in by City, eventually finishing five points adrift in second place.
While they were seen as surprise challengers, this season Arsenal will be considered among the favourites to challenge Pep Guardiola’s men.
Asked if there would be more pressure on his players as a result, Arteta added: “I think it is excitement, this is where we want to be and building a team that has the belief and the quality to be fighting for those places.
“The competition this year is going to be even harder than last year, you see a lot of teams and the movements they have made and you have to expect something different from them.
“So we have to be much better still than last year and this is the way we are preparing, to seek for that.
“The reality is that in football you have to be at your best on the day and it’s only about today and tomorrow and training the way we want to play and increasing the probability of winning that game by earning the right to do that.”
