Arsenal have received a couple of injury boosts in training ahead of Thursday’s match against Atalanta, though Martin Odegaard still isn’t involved.
Arsenal held an open training session in front of the media on Wednesday, with Simon Collings of The Standard revealing the good news that both Riccardo Calafiori and Bukayo Saka were involved.
Calafiori had missed out on Arsenal’s north London derby win over Tottenham Hotspur with an injury he picked up over the international break, and Saka was forced off during the derby.
Reports had already confirmed that Saka was only substituted with cramp, so there was always a good chance he would be back available in midweek. His return to training is just further confirmation that it was nothing serious.
It wasn’t all positive news though, with Martin Odegaard and Oleksandr Zinchenko both absent from the session. Neither player was available on Sunday, and it seems they aren’t about to return to the action on Thursday.
Mikel Merino, Kieran Tierney, and Takehiro Tomiyasu also remain absent through injury.
Arsenal will soon jet off to Italy for their Champions League clash against Atalanta, their opening game of the new League Phase format.
Given all the absentees, a few youth players should get a chance to join the squad on Thursday, with Ethan Nwaneri likely the favourite to get minutes.
Other potential call-ups include Tommy Setford, Myles Lewis-Skelly, and Ayden Heaven, all of whom were pictured in Arsenal’s first-team photo this week.