Good news as Arsenal star returns ahead of Brentford

Mixed news for Mikel Arteta with his team during Arsenal’s training session ahead of Brentford and football. London searches for clues in the selection of photos from the last session.

Arsenal meet Brentford on Saturday afternoon knowing they are eight points clear at the top and can put pressure back on Manchester City, who are preparing for Unai Emery’s visit to Aston Villa. The two title challengers will square off midweek and the difficulty will distract from this big fight.

However, the Arsenal boys looked in good spirits in training ahead of the weekend. There were a few notable omissions, but some familiar faces returned to action, adding to a big plus that wasn’t so certain last week.

The group’s availability will certainly be checked during Mikel Arteta’s press conference on Friday. In the meantime, however, football.london has taken a look at the current selection of training footage to see what we can spot.

Partially fit and available

The biggest sigh of relief is Thomas Partey’s total commitment. In training photos from last week, the Ghana international could only be seen in the background, raising concerns over his weekend commitment and this was compounded by Mikel’s press conference Arteta, in which he called the key midfielder ‘dodgy’. .

Thomas Partey and Arsenal training

However, this week Partey was front and center and could be seen with the squad and seated with Oleksandr Zinchenko. Partey came off against Everton in the second half and seconds later the Toffees scored what would have been the winning goal.

With two great home games against Brentford and then Manchester City, Partey will be instrumental in helping the squad. The record with and without Partey speaks for itself, but Arteta will be fully aware of having to manage his fitness.

One Hale End star is back, another is absent

Reiss Nelson has been training in recent weeks, but has been absent from match selection. His place was taken by Marquinhos in the squad before his move to Norwich City, and he has now replaced Amario Cozier-Duberry, who has also been seen in the senior line-up.

Marquinhos

However, Nelson is on course to return to the squad this weekend, having competed with the peloton for an extended period of time. Lui has just found strong form with his goals against Nottingham Forest, but a hamstring problem against Juventus in mid-season ended his playing stint.

Though Nelson prepares to return, Emile Smith Rowe was once again nowhere to be seen. He is expected to be out of the squad this weekend as he continues to recover from a thigh injury sustained shortly after returning from groin surgery.

Involved the recall of Hull City

One player who hasn’t been with London Colney for some time was Salah-Eddine Oulad M’Hand. The Dutch youth international was loaned out to Hull City, but failed to make an appearance and picked up an injury while on the east coast, so Arsenal recalled him.

Now he is fit, training and it is likely that he will be involved again in Mehmet Ali’s Under-21 team. His brother Ismail is a regular in Jack Wilshere’s Under 18 team where he also plays in midfield.

Short sleeves dismay

As you might expect, Kieran Tierney is the only member of the Arsenal squad to have fully embraced England’s February cold snap. Though he kept the bench warm behind Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu for most of the season, he once again defied the cold weather and opted for the short-sleeved shirt.

Meanwhile, Eddie Nketiah was fully wrapped up in sweatpants, a long-sleeved top, a neck warmer, and gloves. Who knows what his Scottish teammate might have thought?

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