What Rice and Saka did, injury boost, unexplained absence – Things spotted in Arsenal training

For the first time this season, the open training session for the UEFA Champions League at Arsenal’s Sobha Realty Training Centre took place. Mikel Arteta and his coaching staff were witnessed for the opening of the morning’s action from north London.

Arsenal fly to Italy Wednesday afternoon to face Serie A side Atalanta, the winners of last season’s Europa League final. The Gunners are in for a tough week with just a couple of days of recovery before then travelling to Manchester to face the champions at the Etihad Stadium.

Arteta will need to manage his squad to their peak efficiency to overcome this gauntlet however he has started the season very well despite the challenges in play.

Rice in good spirits

One big boost to Mikel Arteta’s options is the return of Declan Rice to the squad. The England international was missing from the North London Derby having been suspended in the 1-1 draw with Brighton before the break.

Although he has not been deprived of training with the group, it was evident Rice was in high spirits ahead of his playing return. Walking out with teammate Bukayo Saka, the pair engaged in a small passing drill between themselves laughing and joking – Rice could indeed start Thursday night and at the weekend.

A big boost

The aforementioned Saka did indeed come off with what looked to be a cramp at Tottenham raising some concern over his status. But as already mentioned, Saka did indeed train and looked free to move and join in with the drills and, as expected, will likely play a key role in the upcoming games.

The bigger surprise inclusion was Riccardo Calafiori who did miss the derby on Sunday due to an injury suffered with the Italian national side. He could start his first Arsenal game this week should Arteta opt to give Jurrien Timber something of a rest.

Martin Odegaard, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Kieran Tierney, Mikel Merino and Takehiro Tomiyasu were all missing through injury. Arteta will provide an update during Wednesday’s press conference.

Youngster missing

As always with the preparation for European games, Mikel Arteta calls up several young players to take part in the session and this was no exception. Nathan Butler-Oyedeji, Zane Monlouis and Josh Robinson joined the now fully integrated Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly.

However, there was one unexplained absence in the form of Ayden Heaven. The defender has, like Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly, been included in this season’s senior team photo and is highly-regarded and should have been taking part but was not spotted with the rest of the group.