Arsenal are back to work as several first-team players have returned to training ahead of the Premier League's return in December.
It was revealed that following the Gunners' 2-0 win over Wolves earlier in the month, those not travelling to Qatar for the World Cup would be given 10 days off before beginning preparations for the resumption of domestic football with a friendly at London Colney against Watford
And on Monday, images from a training session at London Colney emerged as manager Mikel Arteta and his coaching staff put the players through their paces ahead of next month's warm-weather training camp in Dubai as well as facing AC Milan, Lyon and Juventus.
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Who was involved?
From the images, the group that reassembled on Monday included central defenders Gabriel Magalhaes and Rob Holding - with Ben White and William Saliba both away in Qatar - in addition to the full-back pairing of Cedric Soares and Oleksandr Zinchenko as well as midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga.
Considering Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli are with Brazil in Qatar, Arsenal only have three senior forwards in London, so it was good to see Marquinhos, Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson all involved as they are expected to feature heavily in the upcoming friendlies.
Quartet absent
There was no sight of Martin Odegaard, Kieran Tierney, Fabio Vieira or Mohamed Elneny from the session. Although, for good reason. The quartet took part in international friendlies outside of the World Cup earlier in the month and it's probably a case they've been given extra time off.
No Smith Rowe
Emile Smith Rowe was pencilled in for a return to training in December following groin surgery but did reveal he's ahead of schedule: "Hopefully [I’ll be back] by the first game after the World Cup," he told Sky Sports. "I’m actually out here doing rehab, today was my day off, I’m back training tomorrow. I’m back on the pitch, it’s going well."
Not spotted among the first batch of players to return, there's still a chance the Gunners No.10 is present for a training session later in the week as it's been reported that he will be part of the squad that travels to Dubai for the warm-weather training camp later this week.
Youngsters called up
Ever since he returned to Arsenal in December 2019, Arteta has made habit of calling up some of the club's most promising youngsters to train with the first-team squad. Already this season, the likes of Ethan Nwaneri, Lino Sousa, Reuell Walters, Taylor Foran, Catalin Cirjan, Khayon Edwards, and Amario Cozier-Duberry have benefitted.
Along with Matt Smith, who is a regular in these sessions despite not being officially promoted to the senior squad, youngster Myles Lewis-Skelly was spotted. As per Jeorge Bird, the midfielder is one of the most highly-rated prospects in the academy, having scored on his debut for Arsenal Under-18s as a 14-year-old.
This season, he has scored twice and weighed in with the same number of assists in five appearances for the Under-18's as well as stepping up a level with two substitute outings in the EFL Trophy - including playing the final 11 minutes of last week's second round exit against Stevenage.
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