Which Arsenal first team players were in Emery’s first training session?

With Arsenal’s first pre-season game coming up in just over a week at Boreham Wood, we already have many first-team players back in time to attend Unai Emery’s first training session at London Colney.

There is an unusually high amount thanks to the Gunners having few representatives at this year’s World Cup in Russia. In fact Arsenal probably have a full team of seniors that could play at Boreham Wood!

Our latest new signing Sokratis was in the group, along with Petr Cech, Hector Bellerin, Shkodran Mustafi, Rob Holding, Calum Chambers, Sead Kolasinac, Aaron Ramsey, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Alexandre Lacazette.

There were quite a few players that were not with the club last season due to loan deals that are hoping they can impress Emery enough to keep them, including Emiliano Martinez, Chuba Akpom, Lucas Perez, Jeff Reine-Adelaide and Carl Jenkinson, but, other than Perez, I doubt any of them will be here for the start of the season.

The lucky youngsters that were also invited to train with Emery were Reiss Nelson, Joe Willock, Eddie Nketiah, Emile Smith Rowe, Jordi Osei-Tutu and Matt Macey.

This could be excellent for Arsenal’s opening games as most of our squad will be fit and ready, and definitely not fatigued after the World Cup!

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23 Comments

  1. Cannot wait for that first game! I won’t make any judgements on that first game, in fact, probably not even for the entire season, given the mess Emery inherited, and the fact the majority of the squad will still be Wenger’s players. But it will be interesting to see if we have made any progress against City, after the weak, and pathetic performances against them last season. We’ve been struggling against decent opposition for years, so City, then Chelsea, I think is a good start to see where we’re at.

  2. I heard Emile Smith Rowe and Jordi Osei-Tutu are classified as wonderkids, like what Wilshere and Ramsey were branded

    I am curious to see whether their abilities are better than Maitland-Niles and Nelson or not

  3. I’m loving the many positive comments on this forum at the moment that understand, with transition comes a few teething problems. The squad has been poor over the past couple of seasons but now that unpleasant mould has hopefully been broken and our new manager and recruits can create their own destiny. City is the toughest start of the lot and I fully I expect us to get right into them, regardless of the result. The next best option to winning /drawing against Ciry is to let them know they’ve been in a battle and at the beginning I’ll be happy with that.

  4. is reiss Nelson even good at all ?
    cos I Don’t think he is , he doesn’t look any better than theo Walcott .

    1. He’s a bit over-hyped I agree but the kid has talent everyone can see he has. It’s difficult with the expectation on him, it makes him try a bit too hard at times, he tries to impress in moments rather than concentrating on the team mentality (from what little we have seen). But he hasn’t gotten the game time yet to judge him fairly, unless you do your judging at youth level the jury should still be out. I wouldn’t judge him at this stage because he hasn’t even gotten started. Look at Kane, no-one can tell me they expected this of him, Messi, maybe, but for most players no because there is a huge difference between youth and senior football.

    2. Nelson is a class act but I think he has a mental block at the moment when he’s in the first team.. that conflict between being himself and showing his talent or being safe and not making mistakes.. he seems to be erring on the safe side at the moment, but he’s very gifted..

  5. Emery is working them hard! I really can’t wait till the season starts… or even the friendlies… just to see my beloved Arsenal again ?

    1. Yes Sue, one can see there is now attention to details, seeing as Emery goes about on the training pitch with his notepad, no more “express yourself training mode”…

  6. happy to hear the new boss sees promise in maitland-niles: also im glad to see perez given what appears to be a clean sheet as he is capable of causing the opponent t’go retreat on to the backfoot – when he gets the chance.

    other than this im tired of our bollocks about wonderkids, its something we’ve been persuing for years with little or no success. imo the recent wonderkid we had (*fabregas) only performed at optimum when he left us for barca and chelski – so its time to put all that to bed. the wonderkid of the moment is mbappe and we’ve nothing to match him.

    And so let us put our hopes and trust in those able to be wonderMEN on the playing field and perhaps then we’ll get the results and outputs the fans crave and that we deserve.

  7. NEIL – I agree with you as the fans are now excited for a new era & we all are aware this will take time but the steps bein taken so far has been quote good considering the mess Arsenal had left us in physically & mentally.

    Potentially according to reports from his father speaking to some press is that we have Torriera in the bag but not until their WC campaign is over & that could be this weekend but would like to see them go on in the tournament.

    If we can sign a winger before WC is over then we have time to buy a marquee signing.
    Excited about the new season. COYG

  8. Players like Chuba Akpom and Carl Jenkinson should not even be allowed on the training pitch not to talk of being at the club, they have had enough time
    Adelaide comes across like an injury prone player but very talented, he should still be given a chance

    For me, Nelson and Joe Willock are just being overhyped, i dont really see anything special in them
    Perez, can be a very useful player for us on that right wing as Ozil wont be available at the start, lets keep him..

    Here is my starting line up for opening games, without the World cup stars:
    ………Cech………
    Bellerin……….Sokratis……..Chambers……kolasinac..

    ……………..Maitland Niles……………..

    Perez………..Mkhitaryan……….Ramsey………..Laca……

    …………………………Aubameyang……………….

    Then when we have guys like Ozil, Elneny, Xhaka,Torrierra ready, ,we can have this;

    …………..Cech…………

    Lich………..Sokratis…….Chambers……..Kolasinac…..

    …………Torreira…………..

    Perez………….xhaka……ramsey……..Mhiktaryan……

    …………..Aubameyang……….

    1. Some of your unrealistic lineup will not be possible cos we have to offload some “stars”.

      1. The only SENIOR players we might offload are Elneny and Perez
        Xhaka and Ramsey are in Emery’s plans, we dont know that Mhiktaryan and Ozil yet
        So would could it be?

    2. i think the 4-2-3-1 formation or 3-5-2 accomodates our best players more;

      …………………Cech……………

      Bellerin……….Sokratis ……..Chambers……..Kolasinac.

      ………Torreira……xhaka………..

      …….Perez………..Ozil………..Mhiktaryan……

      ……………..Aubameyang……….

      Emery has a huge selection dilemma, one of Ozil, Ramsey, Xhaka will be dropped in whatever formation he uses
      I prefer Perez on the left wing, i always love a left footed right winger like Salah or Mahrez and i believe Perez can offer us that, hence his selection.

      1. The more I think about it 3-5-2 seems very likely.

        – it solves the problem of choosing between Laca and Auba as they will both be starters
        – although we are linked with a few wingers we don’t actually have any natural wingers currently at the club.
        – the 3-5-2 formation would mean no need for wingers as the wingbacks provide the width
        – we already have an abundance of CBs and are still in the market for another one, does this mean Emery is planning for the use of 3 starting CBs
        – we also have an abundance of CMs, this formation would suit

        worth a thought!

    3. Both team selections look workable, i really think Perez will become an important member of the squad if we keep him and Niles will have
      an important role also.

      It is left to see who remains with us and who is moved on, i am hoping everyone is given a chance to show what they can do in front of Emery

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