The Arsenal squad trained ahead of their Europa League clash with PSV tomorrow evening. Mikel Arteta had a near full squad available although was missing Marquinhos and Oleksandr Zinchenko.
After the Arsenal players walked out, the players split into four groups to do some small running warm-ups. This was followed by some close-control dribbling exercises before splitting off into three groups for a quick round of dondos.
football.london attended the first portion of training. Below are several things that were spotted during the session including a test for Matt Turner as he aims to develop a crucial part of his game.
READ MORE: Mikel Arteta keeps faith in Arsenal young star aiming to push Thomas Partey for PSV place
Walkouts
As had become the norm, Ben White was the first player out alongside Rob Holding. With Marquinhos absent the Portuguese-speaking group seemed to somewhat fracture today.
Even new best friends Gabriel Martinelli and Fabio Vieira walked out with other teammates. The Brazilian accompanying Bukayo Saka and Vieira instead with Eddie Nketiah who he might be tasked with assisting in tomorrow’s game.
The players took longer than usual to reach the training field. Gabriel Magalhaes, William Saliba, Gabriel Jesus and Takehiro Tomiyasu came out several minutes after those who first followed Mikel Arteta out onto the grass. Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney’s position in the starting eleven is likely to be telling for who will start against Nottingham Forest.
Tierney braves the cold and wet
Shocking, I know. Kieran Tierney has made a reputation for himself training in his usual shorts and t-shirt in the coldest of environments; even rocking up in Norway with his usual attire.
Sporting the new Arsenal hoodie and not prepared for the wet and rainy weather whilst the damp gradually soaked through to those of us on the sidelines watching the open training session, it was amusing to see the rest of the Gunners squad wrapped up significantly with long sleeves, hats and even snoods in some cases. Fingers crossed for a drier condition in Eindhoven for our football.london reporter Kaya Kaynak who will be bringing news from Mikel Arteta’s press conference later.
Turner costs Tomiyasu place in rondo
Arsenal took part in their typical rondo session in one of the final activities from the short glimpse into today’s session. However, both Aaron Ramsdale and Matt Turner made their way over from the individual training to take part in the passing drills.
Turner has seen considerable scrutiny for his distribution since his move to the club. When his competitor Ramsdale has the skill high up on his list of strongest attributes it is understandable for the American to come under examination in this area.
Catalin Cirjan and Cedric Soares were the players in the middle of the circle that Turner was challenged to pass around. Receiving the ball from Fabio Vieira on his left, he pivoted the ball straight across the circle to Tomiyasu.
The Japanese international had to stretch for the pass after it deflected off Cirjan in the middle, losing possession and costing his place in the circle. Turner claimed that the Romanian youngster had handled it by pointing to his own hand in the air but it couldn’t save Tomi from replacing the youth star in the middle.
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