Arsenal prepared for their trip to Norway to face Bodo/Glimt in their third Europa League match of the season, with the final training session before travelling to the airport. football.london was in attendance at the start of the session and spotted plenty of interesting moments.
Gabriel Jesus absent
Gabriel Jesus missed Arsenal training ahead of the game against Bodo/Glimt on Thursday. The Brazilian was involved in a challenge with Kostas Tsimikas against Liverpool but did continue in the game.
READ MORE: Gabriel Jesus absent from Arsenal training amid injury scare vs Liverpool
In his post-match press conference, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said: "I don't know, I haven't been with the doctor yet. I'm sure they are checking him. He seemed ok after the game; I don't actually know what happened, but we'll assess how well he is.
Four Arsenal youngsters called up
Khayon Edwards has been called up, it is fair to assume the striker is the natural replacement for Gabriel Jesus in the squad. The striker has only just returned from injury but impressed in the early under-21s season.
Matt Smith took his regular place amongst the first team and could even be in line for some minutes tomorrow should the game state suit Arteta to give him the chance. Bradley Ibrahim trained too, following his inclusion ahead of the Liverpool game, although he missed out on the matchday squad.
Finally, the Romanian midfielder Cătălin Cîrjan was again present. He has been on the senior bench a number of times, including the last two Europa League games.
The walkouts
It is always interesting to see which groups of players walk out for training together. It gives a good insight into the friendship groups within the squad.
Ben White, Kieran Tierney and captain Martin Odegaard led the team out. White appeared to be feeling the cold somewhat, with his snood pulled up just below his eyes.
An experienced pairing of Granit Xhaka and Cedric Soares followed. The pair are likely to start and represent part of Mikel Arteta's most travelled and valuable members of the dressing room.
Ibrahim, Edwards and Cirjan accompanied one another onto the field. Whilst Matt Smith followed Rob Holding out.
Training session
The players began with a typical warm-up in lanes to stretch out. Then began the first ball-playing exercise of the session.
The squad were split into two groups. One small goal was present at one end of the field with a player alongside.
The player at the other end of the coned section played a long pass toward the player next to the goal, who headed or passed the ball back to someone to tap into the small net. Working on player movement, long-passing, touch and finishing in one move.
The last exercise seen was the classic Rondos. Several groups formed circles, with one player in the middle trying to recover possession as the others were allowed just one touch to move the ball away from the defender.
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