Arsenal are preparing to face Chelsea in the Florida Cup Final this weekend, and although Mikel Arteta has lots of players to choose from, there are three that will not be available and they are definitely “The Usual Suspects”.
Kieran Tierney usually misses half a season with injury, but it came to a head last March when he had to go for a knee operation. HHe didn’t play again until our bisit to Nurnberg a few weeks ago and he was taken off after 30 minutes. Arteta said it was a precaution and nothing to worry about, but he has not been available since and will not be able to face Chelsea either. Arteta is still making out it is not a big problem. The boss said after the Everton win: “We have Kieran [Tierney] with a slight problem, we have Emile [Smith Rowe] with a muscular niggle, Tomiyasu as well and Ben [White].”
Tomiyasu is another that was out for practically the whole of the second half of last season, and was not seen in the open training session in the video below. The Japan international is obviously still being treated with kid gloves. We are still unclear whether he will be ready for the start of the season…
And of course, the third candidate is Emile Smith-Rowe, who has continually had to be used sparingly ever since he broke into the first team, which is why he has gained a reputation as a bit of a supersub. After the Everton game Smith-Rowe himself said: “I picked up a little injury so I’m just trying to get my way back onto the training pitch with my teammates. It [pre-season] has been tough.”
The youngster has been training by himself in America, so it looks like he will be watched carefully before being risked in any starting line-up in the new season.
The good news is that Fabio Vieira has rejoined the squad after a small foot injury and hopefully he will make his debut against Chelsea…
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Watch highlights from Arsenal’s open training session on our preseason tour of the USA
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