Mikel Arteta put his Arsenal players through their paces on Saturday ahead of this afternoon’s massive visit of Leeds United.
Arsenal need a victory to boost their chances of finishing in the Champions League places, with Spurs moving one point behind the fourth-placed Gunners with a 1-1 draw away to Liverpool last night.
The North Londoners have a bit of an injury concern in the form of Ben White.
Their £50 million centre-back missed the victory at West Ham United last weekend through injury and Arteta couldn’t guarantee that he’d be available for selection against the Whites today.
And interestingly, there was an Under-23 defender promoted by the Spaniard at London Colney on Saturday.
Jonathan Dinzeyi, who joined Arsenal from Tottenham in 2020, was spotted in Arteta’s session – and he looks one hell of a physical unit.
In one photograph, the 22-year-old centre-back, who stands at 6’4, can be seen demonstrating his towering presence alongside Gabriel Magalhaes and Rob Holding.
Dinzeyi has never made a senior appearance for Arsenal and it’ll be interesting to see if his presence in training yesterday is linked with a potential promotion to the squad against Jesse Marsch’s troops.
White, who joined from Brighton last summer, was not photographed at Colney on Saturday, plunging his participation into massive doubt.
And therefore it isn’t unthinkable that Dinzeyi could make the squad, particularly given that Arteta is known to use training-ground form as a basis for such decisions.
If the Arsenal manager liked what he saw from the big man, there’s a chance.
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