Arsenal have released their training video ahead of Sunday's Premier League clash against Brentford, and there are some notable absentees.
From the clip uploaded to the club's official website, there's no sign of Mohamed Elneny, Emile Smith Rowe, Reiss Nelson or Cedric Soares. Now, considering the fact that the Egypt international is a long-term absentee, it's no surprise he wasn't involved in the session at London Colney.
The same applies to the remaining trio - in particular, Smith Rowe, whose ongoing groin problems are a source of much frustration for Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta: "I am concerned about the fact that we don't have him available and when he's been trying to train he's not been feeling 100% fit or pain-free," he told reporters. "This is the main concern, and we have to find a solution to that. We're trying to do that
READ MORE: Arsenal's January signing could replace Oleksandr Zinchenko against Brentford amid line-up hint
""Very frustrating. He's a kid that loves playing football. It's the biggest thing in his life. And when he's not capable of doing that, especially after the run of games and performances that he had with us the year before, it's just difficult. But injuries are part of football that you're going to get at some stage of your career. It's how you face those difficult moments, and now you make the next step."
Another potential injury concern for Arsenal ahead of the London derby at the Brentford Community Stadium is Oleksandr Zinchenko. In fact, there has been mixed news regarding his availability, with Arteta refusing to rule the 25-year-old despite Ukraine issuing a statement regarding a calf muscle problem that will sideline him for two weeks.
"Again, we have to wait until tomorrow to make that decision," the Spaniard told reporters. "Where he was at that moment and what we have decided to do for the international week doesn't mean that we will decide the same for the weekend. So it's something we will address tomorrow."
It remains to be seen what happens with the Ukraine international, but he and William Saliba are the two high-profile absentees from the aforementioned training video.
Including Matt Smith, Lino Sousa and four other academy starlets, the Arsenal senior players who were spotted in this particular training session are as follows:
Goalkeepers: Aaron Ramsdale, Matt Turner and Karl Hein
Defenders: Kieran Tierney, Ben White, Gabriel Magalhaes, Rob Holding and Takehiro Tomiyasu
Midfielders: Thomas Partey, Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Fabio Vieira, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Granit Xhaka
Forwards: Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli, Eddie Nketiah and Marquinhos.
However, Zinchenko and Saliba's absences from the training video doesn't necessarily mean the pair won't feature against Brentford. This is because the clip in question has included footage from Friday's session, and Arteta stated that a final decision would be made on the players in contention to face the Bees after Saturday's final session.
"Unfortunately, that day will be tomorrow when we have the last training session," he added. "Today, there's not much to give. Tomorrow, whoever we have to rule out is going to be tomorrow. We have those 24 hours still to see if one or two can be considered for training and for selection, but that will be key in the next 24 hours."
At the time of writing, no footage from training on Saturday had been released, so it's still very much a guessing game as to which players will be available for selection in west London.
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