On the eve of facing Manchester City in a huge Premier League top-of-the-table clash, footage of the Arsenal players being put through their paces in training were released.
Taking part in the session at London Colney was Emile Smith Rowe. The attacking midfielder has missed the last three games across all competitions with a minor thigh problem but appears to have moved one step closer to potentially earning a recall to the matchday squad.
Furthermore, judging by the images uploaded by the club's photographer, the Gunners players were in positive spirits ahead of the Man City clash and this is despite being held to a draw by Brentford, in controversial fashion, and losing to Everton in their last two Premier League outings.
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Mikel Arteta's side have the chance to get their title bid back on track and prove those results were nothing but a blip, although history is against them in this fixture, particularly in the Premier League with the defending champions winning the last 10 meetings in a row.
The good news for Arsenal is no fresh injuries have been reported following the Brentford draw and whilst Mohamed Elneny and Gabriel Jesus remain sidelined, the likes of Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka, Eddie Nketiah and Martin Odegaard all trained and will be available for selection.
It was a normal session at the club's London Colney training base, as one would expect, but whilst £21m January signing Leandro Trossard has been tipped to start ahead of Martinelli on the left-wing against City, he may have staked his claim to be the club's 'nutmeg king'.
As spotted in the 'Inside Training' video uploaded to the club's official website, a small-sided game is taking place involving fellow winter transfer window recruit Jakub Kiwior, Fabio Vieira, Rob Holding, Kieran Tierney, Matt Turner, Salah-Eddine Oulad M’Hand and Amario Cozier-Duberry.
And at around the 0.22 mark, Trossard receives a pass from Turner but is immediately closed down by Reiss Nelson. After doing well to hold off the academy graduate, the Belgium international skillfully slips the ball through the winger's legs and it's somewhat of a surprise that there wasn't a bigger reaction.
Whether this skill is enough to earn the 28-year-old a first Premier League start in Arsenal colours remains to be seen but Arteta hasn't exactly ruled out the prospect of rotating his team: "At the end that’s more determined by results," he said in the pre-match press conference.
"For us it's more about performances and what the players have given us to take us to the position that we're in today. They deserve opportunities and we’re looking to move players and give them the opportunities they deserve. You talked about Leo, but we can talk about anybody who has had minutes in this league. There will be changes and it’s going to happen soon."
You can watch live coverage of Arsenal vs Man City on Amazon Prime tonight here.
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