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Tashan Deniran-Alleyne

Tomiyasu absent, Zinchenko and Martinelli embrace as Arsenal get injury boost ahead of Chelsea

Arsenal's preparations for the London derby against Chelsea are now complete.

The Gunners are back in action on Sunday afternoon, three days and around 60 hours after beating FC Zurich in the Europa League to top the group and avoid a knockout round play-off tie against the likes of Barcelona, Juventus, Ajax or Sevilla when the competition resumes in the new year.

With this being the penultimate round of Premier League fixtures before the season pauses for the World Cup, Mikel Arteta knows his side are two wins away from being number one in the table on Christmas Day - and the omens are very good with regard to being there in May.

READ MORE: Inside story of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Arsenal exit, Mikel Arteta fall out and Chelsea move

Not looking too far into the future, on Saturday, the Spaniard and his coaching staff put the Arsenal first-team squad through their paces during training at London Colney with media footage released to get fans in the mood for a London derby and below is a look at some of the things we spotted from the latest session.

No Tomiyasu

After limping off with two minutes to go against FC Zurich, perhaps it's no real surprise that Takehiro Tomiyasu was not spotted during Saturday's session and his absence might be a clear indication that he will play no part at Stamford Bridge. With that said, it is worth remembering that Arsenal players such as Oleksandr Zinchenko and William Saliba missed training before a game but still went on to feature the following day.

As a result, many Arsenal supporters will hope that this was just a case of the versatile defender being missed by the photographer rather than anything else.

Turner returns

One first-team player who was back in training was £5m summer signing Matt Turner. The goalkeeper had been absent since pulling out of the squad to face PSV Eindhoven just over a week ago as a groin strain also caused him to miss wins over Nottingham Forest and FC Zurich.

But he's resumed full training ahead of the Chelsea game and looks set to earn a spot in the matchday squad at Stamford Bridge, providing backup to Aaron Ramsdale. In addition, Turner's return is also fantastic news for the USMNT ahead of the World Cup that gets underway very soon.

Zinchenko spotted

Speaking of Zinchenko, having taken part in training ahead of the midweek game in Europe, he was involved once again on Saturday and has potentially given Arteta somewhat of a team selection headache as it remains to be seen who gets the nod to start at left-back with Kieran Tierney also in the mix.

Still, the Ukraine international was in a very good mood as he looked to prove his fitness and it won't have gone unnoticed by Arsenal fans that he and Gabriel Martinelli shared a warm embrace during the session. Is that a sign of things to come down the Gunners' left-hand side against Chelsea?

Youngster called-up

Saturday also saw the continuation of the theme of Arteta calling up some of the club's most promising youngsters to train with the first-team squad ahead of a game. Already this season, the likes of Ethan Nwaneri, Lino Sousa, Reuell Walters, Taylor Foran, Catalin Cirjan, Khayon Edwards, Matt Smith and Amario Cozier-Duberry all benefit.

Going into the Chelsea game and one youngster was spotted as Charles Sagoe Jr was involved. The talented winger has enjoyed an impressive campaign so far with four goals and an assist in 13 appearances for the Arsenal U21s and he was rewarded for his efforts.

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