25yo Arsenal starter misses training ahead of Bodo/Glimt clash | OneFootball

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Daily Cannon

·6 October 2022

25yo Arsenal starter misses training ahead of Bodo/Glimt clash

Article image:25yo Arsenal starter misses training ahead of Bodo/Glimt clash

Oleksandr Zinchenko wasn’t part of Arsenal’s final training session ahead of their clash with FK Bodo/Glimt, reportedly as a precaution.

Simon Collings and Charles Watts report that Oleksandr Zinchenko wasn’t in training at London Colney on Wednesday, with journalists in attendance informed that the absence was mainly a precaution.

Watts writes for Goal that Zinchenko could be omitted from the squad to face FK Bodo/Glimt with the Liverpool game in mind.


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The defender was seen limping away from the north London derby, so he’s set to get some extra rest in midweek.

Kieran Tierney was always likely to start this game anyway, after he was only utilised as a substitute at the weekend.

But Arsenal will be lacking an obvious alternative at left-back on Thursday, and they’ll hope Zinchenko can return in time for Sunday.

Arsenal have done so much right in the last few months. The fact they sit top of the Premier League table is clear evidence of that.

Yet this injury issue for Zinchenko does highlight one of their apparent mistakes.

For no obvious reason, Arsenal chose not to name academy left-back Lino Sousa in their Europa League squad this summer. They had space for him, there was nothing stopping them including him, but they left him out anyway.

Bizarrely, the club even took Sousa with them as they travelled to the game against Zurich, so there’s no arguing that they don’t rate him highly.

That decision to exclude Sousa from the squad list leaves them short on the bench if Zinchenko is indeed out.

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