Mikel Arteta causes Arsenal mayhem before Real Madrid as Thomas Partey leaves late injury worry

Arsenal are 90 minutes away from the Champions League semi-finals. Tuesday night promises to be a tough sleep for those who are anticipating taking out the reigning holders in their own back yard.

With a healthy 3-0 advantage, not even the most pessimistic supporters can claim that Arsenal are not favourites to make it into the final four now. Declan Rice's pair of tremendous freekicks are already written into club folklore but will be remember all the more fondly should it go on to be the catalyst for overall victory in the tie.

. Arsenal are expectant and rightly so.

READ MORE:

READ MORE:

It is with this possibility and opportunity that a group of potential heroes and immortals took to a final training session before the match. football.london followed the live preparations and brings you some of the standout moments from the Sobha Realty Training Centre.

Arteta watch

It is normal for a head coach to get involved with training. As one of he youngest managers about, it is no surprise that Arteta himself still likes to get stuck in.

He took that a little bit literally here. After a quick chat with Ethan Nwaneri at the start of the session, when players were still getting themselves out into the drizzly north London air, Arteta was right into the action.

During the first part of the warmup, he turned mischief maker, throwing and rolling balls around, seemingly trying to get them between his players' legs. Then, in what was undoubtedly the moment of the morning, he chucked himself into a slide tackle.

Leaping into a small 'Rondo' exercise where the players pass the ball around two defenders in small groups, taking only one touch, Arteta found himself chasing the play. Not quite as sharp as he was in the prime of his career, Arteta was twisting and turning to keep up.

After a minute of this he had clearly seen enough. Spying an under-hit pass from Gabriel Martinelli, Arteta stepped in to try and beat Jurrien Timber to the ball, blocking off Raheem Sterling. In the action, he slid on the floor to cut it out but was left embarrassed.

The ball ended up past him in a flash and Arteta got back to his feet before putting his hands up, possibly in slight apology. Nobody was hurt but there may well have been some hearts in mouths just a day before the biggest game of the season so far.

Partey leaves everyone waiting

All eyes were on those attending the session, more than anything else.

The rotation against Brentford was evidence enough that Arteta was taking no risks. However, when he lost both Jorginho and Thomas Partey to second half knocks, the alarm bells were ringing again.

Ben White had already been left out of the squad as a precaution after picking up his own setback in training. Riccardo Calafiori remains out.

The noises before Tuesday's session were that Jorginho would not be fit enough to make the squad for Madrid. Partey, though, was expected back, as was White.

Right on cue, after a 20 minute delay to the start of the session, White was first out onto the grass. Alongside Raheem Sterling, White strolled out casually to get things going. Slowly but surely the bodies followed. Arteta was a few minutes behind, as were Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka.

Then, right at the back, Partey emerged. . Jorginho, however, was not there.

Schedule explained

Rather than being one specific moment from the session, many have been confused by why Arsenal were training home at all. After all, Arteta was due to have press conference in Spain less than seven hours after the start of this live broadcast.

In that time, Arsenal will have had a full training session, presumably some lunch, possibly team meetings, and then it is shower and change o'clock. They then fly to Madrid before heading to the Madrid training complex for media duties.

This is standard for European trips. It is rarer nowadays for clubs to go one day earlier and then train at the stadium the night before. Instead, Arsenal have chosen to continue working in their usual surroundings.