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Football London
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Josh Holland

Defence shake-up, Man City reaction - Three things spotted in Arsenal training ahead of Chelsea

Arsenal will now undergo mission perfect in their remaining five games of the season if they are to win the Premier League title. The Gunners have failed to win in their four games and have lost ground on their advantage over Manchester City.

Mikel Arteta's men must respond from Wednesday's loss at the Etihad Stadium when they welcome London rivals Chelsea to the Emirates Stadium next week. Frank Lampard's struggling side make the short trip across the capital in their own rut, losing their last five games.

With no usual weekend game, the north London outfit have enjoyed more time at London Colney in preparation for next Tuesday's clash. Here, football.london takes a look at things that were spotted from the session.

READ MORE: Arsenal handed green light to complete £37m Nathan Ake plan and avoid William Saliba repeat

Jakub Kiwior hint

Defender Kiwior has rarely featured for the Gunners since his January move from Spezia. The 23-year-old has made three appearances for Arteta's side, starting only one, despite William Saliba's injury.

Rob Holding has been selected to partner Gabriel Magalhaes in the heart of Arsenal's defence in Saliba's absence, but the resolute defending on display earlier in the season has been nowhere to be seen.

There have been calls for Kiwior to replace Holding as Gabriel's partner, but Arteta has stuck with the Englishman. However, Kiwior was spotted deep in conversation with Martin Odegaard before the session and was heavily involved in the passing drill.

Man City reaction

After seeing their title aspirations take a hit on Wednesday, it would be understandable if the mood at London Colney was rather dull. Losing to your title rivals at the end of April isn't ideal, but Arteta explained the importance of a reaction for the final five games.

In the footage released by Arsenal, members of the Gunners squad are spotted sharing the odd joke in their short trip to the training pitch at Colney. Reiss Nelson seems to be showing some love to fellow attackers Leandro Trossard and Bukayo Saka before Brazilian trio Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel were pictured interacting with Jorginho.

Academy involvement

Despite playing in the FA Youth Cup final defeat to West Ham on Tuesday, Under-18s captain Bradley Ibrahim was spotted participating in first-team training.

The Macclesfield-born midfielder was pictured travelling to the training field with Eddie Nketiah before joining the huddle pre-session and taking part in the warm-up. Ibrahim was named on Arteta's bench for the Europa League games with Bodo/Glimt and PSV last year and has featured often for the Under-23s in recent months. A player to keep an eye on over pre-season.

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