Declan Rice wait, Odegaard boost, Saliba not involved: Moments missed from Arsenal training
Arsenal's preseason tour of the USA is officially underway. The Gunners got things started with their first training session at the George Mason University after touching down in Washington D.C. at around 8pm local time on Sunday.
Mikel Arteta did not hold back as his players were put through their paces under the beaming American sun. Temperatures were hitting north of 30 degrees before 11am and humidity levels clocking in at around 50%
Despite the brutal conditions the Arsenal players seemed to enjoy themselves. Here football.london takes a look back at some of the moments you may have missed from the session.
Declan Rice-cycle
It's been quite a quick turnaround for Declan Rice. The 24-year-old only officially became an Arsenal player on Saturday despite months of speculation. By Monday he found himself on the other side of the world training with his new teammates under the D.C. sun.
Mikel Arteta is certainly happy to have him. The Spaniard described Rice as a «lighthouse… willing to put light in others and make the team better.»
Rice himself is raring to go but had to hold back a little before he could be fully involved. The England international joined the team for their pre-session stretches, but while the rest of the Arsenal first team were on the pitch doing warm up drills, Rice had to make do with the pitchside warm up bikes.
Alongside him were Alex Zinchenko, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Mohamed Elneny, William Saliba, Gabriel Martinelli and Eddie Nketiah as they all recover from bumps and bruises. It seems as though Wednesday's game with the MLS All-Stars could come to soon for both Tomiyasu and Zinchenko, but for the others there is a bit more hope.
Odegaard boost
While those players on the bikes will be a bit of a concern
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