Arsenal injury news: Gabriel, Calafiori, Timber, Zinchenko and Partey miss Tuesday training at Colney
A trip to Arsenal's HQ London Colney reveals an injured defensive quartet and a key midfielder failed to take part in Tuesday training ahead of Monaco at the Emirates
Hello,
Happy Tuesday,
Welcome to my Arsenal Substack, if you’re new to it.
This platform purposely aims to give a quick spot of insight a few days a week, from my unique position as a journalist who covers Arsenal on a daily basis, and as fan who has been attending games week in, week out since the early 1980s.
Today was most definitely an afternoon with my reporters hat on, as I attended Arsenal’s opening training at the club’s HQ London Colney, specifically for the media.
Arsenal’s training ground London Colney, aka Sobha Realty Training Centre. PICTURE: The entrance to Colney. CREDIT:
I’ve been to many of these open training sessions over the years, and while you’ll never get any trade secrets from viewing the squad go through their paces on the lovingly manicured turf of the vast expanse of training pitches at Colney, you do get a sense of who is fit and who isn’t. Not to mention, a slight glimpse into team spirit.
What was apparent as soon as Mikel Arteta’s staff and squad walked onto the grass, was that Arsenal were missing four defenders.
Namely, Gabriel, Riccardo Calafiori, Jurrien Timber and Alex Zinchenko, although it is understood that the quarter had been training on their own with a tailored training regime for them. Key midfielder Thomas Partey also missed training.
(Although there is no truth in the rumour Partey had been removed to work on his heading at attacking set pieces…)
Unfortunately, Mikel Arteta didn’t offer much clarity during his pre-Arsenal vs Monaco press conference, saying cryptically: “We have to manage a lot of the players.
“Some of them probably aren’t going to be fit. Some are still a doubt.
“We have 24 hours to make a decision and hopefully it will be the right ones…”
Arteta did insist that Kieran Tierney could well be involved.
I spotted the fit again Tierney in amongst it with his teammates during training earlier today, and he looked happy to be back with the squad, after injuries, and a loan spell at Real Sociedad.
I still feel he has got something to offer the side, especially when the backline is decimated with injuries, even if the regret is that the doughty left-back sometimes appears to be made of balsa wood.
See you at the Emirates on Wednesday evening.
Layth