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Football London
Football London
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Tashan Deniran-Alleyne

What happened to Alexandre Lacazette in Arsenal training session as Thomas Partey returns

Arsenal's penultimate training session of the season was an interesting experience, to say the least, for the likes of Alexandre Lacazette and a few youngsters in particular.

The Gunners have been preparing for Sunday's final game of the campaign at home to Everton, where a victory coupled with a surprise result at Carrow Road between Norwich City and Tottenham will guarantee a return to the Champions League for the first time since the 2016/17 season.

Whilst not many are giving the Canaries much of a chance of upsetting Spurs and doing Arsenal a massive favour, Mikel Arteta still retains hope of his side finishing fourth: "Very possible. And looking back, I've been back a few years and seen a few examples of teams that they played in the last game of the season and the things that happened," he said in his pre-match press conference. "The closer the game is, I am more hopeful."

READ MORE: Mikel Arteta drops major hint on Arsenal transfer plans with clear message to Stan Kroenke

For the Gunners to capitalise on a potential Norwich victory, they have to beat Everton, which is something they've not been able to manage in the past three meetings between the two sides - including a 1-0 loss in the corresponding fixture at the Emirates Stadium towards the end of last season.

But with the Toffees securing their Premier League survival with a 3-2 win over Crystal Palace on Thursday night, the fact the pressure is off them might just play into Arsenal's hands, and ahead of the big game in north London, there appears to be a relaxed, yet playful, mood in the home's side camp.

As spotted in the 'Behind the scenes at Arsenal training' clip uploaded to YouTube, at around the 1.48-minute mark, Arteta explains that a rondo-based competition will take place between bibs and the non-bibs with the losing team having to go through a corridor of players getting hit on the head.

And after the footage that was condensed to around three-and-a-half minutes, the winners were revealed, with the non-bibs coming out on top by a rather large margin of 18-9. With the likes of Lacazette, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Magalhaes on the losing side, they had to take their punishment of being hit by their teammates.

Funnily enough, Mohamed Elneny appeared to relish the opportunity to inflict some damage. Whilst the Brazilian defender, along with Rob Holding and Nuno Tavares, tried to avoid getting hit by storming through the corridor of players as quickly as they could.

Another notable takeaway from this training session at London Colney was the presence of Thomas Partey. The midfielder has been out injured since the 3-0 loss against Crystal Palace at the beginning of April, and it's certainly a welcome boost that he's back to fitness. However, football.london understands he will not feature against Everton.

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