Arsenal face a potential selection crisis ahead of their clash with Aston Villa as Declan Rice, Jurrien Timber, and Riccardo Calafiori were all missing from the final pre-match training images.
Arsenal’s preparations for their vital encounter with Aston Villa have been clouded by the absence of several key players from Monday’s training session.
Following a narrow victory over Brighton, the Gunners are looking to snap Villa’s 11-match unbeaten run and avenge a recent loss at Villa Park.
However, supporters were left concerned after Declan Rice, Jurrien Timber, and Riccardo Calafiori were not spotted in the official club training photography at the Sobha Realty Training Centre.
The absence of Declan Rice is particularly notable, given his recent role filling in at right-back and a prior struggle with illness that kept him out of Champions League action.
While Mikel Arteta has previously used training galleries to maintain tactical mystery, the lack of these defensive stalwarts suggests the squad may not be at full strength.
This follows the recent sidelined status of Ben White and Cristhian Mosquera, further thinning Arsenal’s options at the back.
Despite the personnel uncertainty, Arteta remains focused on the tactical challenge posed by Unai Emery’s side.
Reflecting on the difficulty of the fixture, the Spaniard remarked: “[Villa] merit to be there. Look at what they are doing and how consistent they’ve been, and what Unai has done with the club.
I have a few ideas and things that we have to do better. It was quite cruel as well, the way we lost it, but we’ll learn from it.”