Five Arsenal players absent from training pictures before crunch Brighton clash
Mikel Arteta oversaw Arsenal's final training session before the international break at Sobha on Friday
A number of first-team players were missing from Arsenal's training picture gallery ahead of Saturday's Premier League trip to Brighton.
Mikel Arteta revealed on Friday morning that he was hopeful a number of stars would be available, provided they got through the session.
Defenders Ben White, Jurrien Timber, Piero Hincapie and Cristhian Mosquera all sat out Tuesday's 4-2 Carabao Cup third-round win at Ipswich.
Of those four, whom Arteta indicated were all available to train, only Timber was visible in the training picture gallery.
That's not to say the others weren't present but Arsenal are obviously keeping their cards close to their chest in a bid to keep Brighton guessing.
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Given White was forced to withdraw from the England squad, as per Thomas Tuchel, there's seemingly a good chance he won't be involved on the South Coast.
Tuchel said: "Ben pulled out with an injury, he had a fantastic start to the season and was back to his very best on the side as a pair with Bukayo Saka which could be very valuable for us to have two payers on the side.
"But unfortunately he wan't available for the World Cup and is not available now. It is unfortunately a little bit of a story with Ben that in the decisive moments or in the moments where we do the call-ups he is not available."
Goalkeeper Illan Meslier was also missing from the training picture gallery and the same applies to William Saliba, though he is a long-term absentee.
David Raya and Kepa Arrizabalaga were both snapped and Marli Salmon should also be involved on Saturday after sitting out the U21's 0-0 draw against Birmingham City on Friday.
Arsenal in training ahead of their trip to Brighton
Max Dowman also did not feature, which indicates he should be involved at Brighton. He also trained with the group at Sobha where the numbers of the session were bolstered by a number of youngsters.
Ezri Konsa, Gabriel Magalhaes and Riccardo Calafiori trained. All three should start against Albion while Arsenal are not short of options in midfield.
Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice, Bruno Guimaraes, Mikel Merino, Martin Zubimendi and Myles Lewis-Skelly were all pictured.
In attack, Ebere Eze, Saka, Christos Tzolis, Viktor Gyokeres, Noni Madueke, Kai Havertz were also present, meaning Arsenal are close to full strength.
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