Oleskandr Zinchenko missed Arsenal training on Wednesday ahead of the Gunners' opening home Europa League group stage match against FK Bodo/Glimt, football.london understands.
Arsenal have trained for the last time ahead of their first home match of the Europa League group stage. Mikel Arteta's side are set to face FK Bodo/Glimt with the hope of maintaining their form after beating arch-rivals Tottenham on the weekend.
The Gunners kicked off their Europa League campaign with a 3-1 victory against FC Zurich in Switzerland. PSV Eindhoven were set to be Arsenal's second fixture in the group stages, but due to the cancellation of the fixture following the death of Queen Elizabeth II it means that the north London side will hope to make it two wins from two fixtures with a victory over Bodo/Glimt on Thursday instead.
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Despite Zinchenko starting at left-back in Arsenal's 3-1 victory over Spurs, he was absent for the Gunners' training session on Wednesday afternoon. However, football.london understands that his absence has been taken as a precautionary measure, rather than any serious injury.
Zinchenko had featured in every Premier League match for the Gunners since making the transfer switch from Manchester City until he was ruled out with an injury against Fulham in Arsenal's fourth game of the season. football.london's Arsenal reporter Kaya Kaynak reported that Zinchenko had suffered a slight sprain to his left knee.
With a major fixture in the Premier League against Liverpool approaching on Sunday, Arteta's intentions could be to wrap the defender in cotton wool to ensure he is fit for the clash.
All signs point to the direction of Kieran Tierney starting the Gunners' Europa League match against FK Bodo/Glimt on Thursday. The Scotsman started in the previous Europa League tie against FC Zurich and this is likely to be case in the upcoming European fixture following Zinchenko's absence from training.
Zinchenko, Emile Smith Rowe and Mohamed Elneny were the only first team players missing for the Gunners in the training session meaning that Arteta has a host of players to select in the Europa League tie against FK Bodo/Glimt.
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