[Images] Nottingham Forest vs Arsenal: Depleted Gunners Train Ahead Of FA Cup Tie

By The Editor
on 8th January 2022

Nottingham Forest vs Arsenal: Mikel Arteta puts his depleted squad through their paces…

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta put what’s left of his first-team squad through their paces ahead of our FA Cup tie at Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

The Spaniard told reporters on Friday we were “really short” on numbers but made it clear the club would fulfil the fixture – though the rules suggest that we don’t have much of a choice.

U23s regulars Charlie Patino and Salah-Edinne have been drafted in and are in contention to be in the squad that travels to The City Ground.

“It’s from Covid and injuries as well,” Arteta said regarding the depleted numbers at his disposal (via Arsenal.com).

“I cannot say anything else because obviously, I don’t want to give anything away, as you can imagine.

“Tomorrow we will know more. We are really short in numbers, but we want to play and that’s how we are approaching every game. We will do everything to plan for the game and we’re going to expect them to play on Sunday.”

Arteta looks to juggle three different competitions this month amid a difficult climate and will aim to avoid a repeat of the shock from four years.

Nottingham Forest dumped us out of the FA Cup in 2018 at our first attempt in a humiliating 4-2 defeat – it was our first 3rd round exit during Arsene Wenger’s reign.

Check out the images above from Saturday’s session as both Patino and Salah join the first team, while the likes of Granit Xhaka, Emile Smith Rowe and Takehiro Tomiyasu were notable absentees.