Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Football London
Football London
Sport
Aaron Catterson-Reid

No Tomiyasu, major midfield boost: Two things spotted in Arsenal training ahead of Wolves clash

Arsenal travel to Molineux Stadium to face Wolves in the Premier League on Thursday night.

The Gunners are winless since the turn of the year, losing three times and recording two draws, with their last outing a 0-0 stalemate against Burnley last month.

Mikel Arteta and Co will hope they can get back to winning ways against Bruno Lage's men but the home side are no pushovers, sitting just two points behind the north Londoners in the league table.

Ahead of the highly-anticipated match, Arteta has been putting his side through their paces at the club's London Colney training base and football.london has spotted a couple of things from Wednesday's session.

Midfield boost

Both Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka were suspended in Arsenal's last match but the midfield pair will be available to face Wolves.

Xhaka and Partey have played together in the league just seven times this term, with the Gunners recording a victory in five of those.

Comparatively, the north London outfit have won just six of the 14 league outings that the pair haven't started together, illustrating just how important they are considering the lack of depth in the centre of the park.

Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey in Arsenal training. (Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images) (David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

Norway captain Martin Odegaard has been playing deep in recent times but the attacking midfielder will likely be utilised further forward against the west Midlands club.

No Tomiyasu

Summer signing Takehiro Tomiyasu missed the aforementioned draw against the Clarets and hasn't been spotted in training since.

Gabriel Martinelli and Jordi Osei-Tutu of Arsenal during Arsenal training. (Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images) (David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

However, Arteta confirmed during his pre-match press conference that the Japanese international is back working, even if he wasn't pictured during Wednesday's session.

"He’s there," the Spaniard said when asked if the 23-year-old would be available for Thursday's match.

"He had a recurring injury in the same place, so we had to be careful with him, but he’s been training hard.

"Let’s see if he’s available for Thursday."

Still fellow right-back Jordi Osei-Tutu was seen training with the rest of the first-team squad, with the Hale End academy graduate hoping to be handed a surprise place in the travelling squad on Thursday.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.