The team are training hard ahead of our FA Cup clash against Sunderland this weekend, with the first game of our cup defence set to kick off at 3:00 pm on Saturday. There are some clues about our potential lineup in the pictures, with a number of players we might not have expected featuring.
Mikel Arteta could feature in his first game for quite some time, with the Spaniard taking part in training after 45 minutes with the U21s during the week. Hector Bellerin also took part, despite fears that he’d be absent after a recent trip to the Netherlands.
Alexis Sanchez unfortunately appears not to be present, suggesting that he’s still some way off a return to action. There is also rather worryingly no sign of Mesut Özil, suggesting he could be rested for the game.
There are a number of youngsters taking part, such as Jeff Reine-Adelaide, Alex Iwobi, and Reiss Nelson. All three of them could play a part, although Arsene Wenger will want to put out a team he is sure can get the win.
PICTURES: @Arsenal train ahead of #AFCvSFC: https://t.co/NqKeJGSbJ2 pic.twitter.com/qKwWhH4c2b
— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) January 8, 2016
#Arsenal training today. pic.twitter.com/r6Gj0TeDpG — Gurjit (@GurjitAFC) January 8, 2016
The rest of the squad appear to be present and accounted for, so we should see a relatively strong squad line up against Sunderland on Saturday.
We obviously want to do our utmost to avoid getting knocked out at this early stage, and holding onto the FA Cup for the third time in a row would be a phenomenal achievement.
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We’ve already beaten Sunderland once this season, so it shouldn’t be a problem doing so again. They’re still real relegation candidates despite the appointment of Sam Allardyce, and on paper this should be an easy win.
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Hopefully Wenger doesn’t rotate too much and Saturday’s game is as routine a win as it should be.
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