Four Arsenal first team players have been left out of the otherwise strong travelling squad to Zurich to begin their Europa League campaign this Thursday.
Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny remain absent through thigh and hamstring injuries respectively, but they have been joined on the sidelines by defender Cedric Soares and midfielder Emile Smith Rowe, with neither travelling with the squad to Switzerland for the Thursday afternoon encounter.
Cedric is understood to have picked up a minor knock in training, which ruled him out of the trip, and his return date remains unclear though he is not expected to be out for long.
The injury to Emile Smith Rowe is far less clear. The Englishman came on for the final 20 minutes as Arsenal fell to a 3-1 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford, but pulled up during the warm-down after the game.
🚨 Emile Smith Rowe appeared to pull up with an injury during Arsenal warm-down. 22yo attacking midfielder looked distressed as he was accompanied back to dressing room by #AFC assistant coach Carlos Cuesta, while rest of substitutes continued their session @TheAthleticUK #MUNARS pic.twitter.com/rz9TKGr6Yt
— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) September 4, 2022
Meanwhile, youngsters Lino Sousa and Matt Smith have travelled with the first team squad, despite Sousa not having been registered for the competition.
Hubert Graczyk, Zach Awe, Taylor Foran, Henry Jeffcott, Zane Monlouis, James Sweet, Mauro Bandeira, Catalin Cirjan, Ben Cottrell, Jack Henry-Francis, Charles Sagoe Jr, Bradley Ibrahim, Nathan Butler-Oyedeji, Kido Taylor-Hart, Billy Vigar and Amario Cozier-Duberry have all been registered from the youth academy, meaning that the Gunners may rotate their side in later weeks should top spot be assured.
Three points on the road would go a long way to ensuring that the Gunners make it through to the knockout rounds.
