Five Arsenal players absent from training pictures ahead of crunch Bournemouth clash

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Arsenal travel to Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday evening as they seek to extend their lead at the top of the table

Arsenal have completed their final training session ahead of Saturday's crunch Premier League trip to the Vitality Stadium when they will face Andoni Iraola's Bournemouth.

The Gunners can move seven points clear of second-place Manchester City, who dropped points on New Year's Day when they were held to a goalless draw at Sunderland.

Mikel Arteta has been left sweating on the fitness of Declan Rice as the England international midfielder is currently combating a swollen knee.

It remains to be seen whether Rice will be available to face the Cherries but if the club's training picture gallery is anything to go by, he's unlikely to feature.

Rice was not spotted in training and while that doesn't provide concrete clarification he wasn't there, the signs are not looking good.

Riccardo Calafiori and Cristhian Mosquera did not train either but that comes as no surprise as Arteta has already ruled them out of the contest.

Meanwhile, Kepa Arrizabalaga and Ethan Nwaneri weren't spotted in the training photos either, though there is a chance they may still have participated.

Nwaneri has been linked with a loan to Bournemouth in recent days but Cherries sources have since downplayed the club's interest to football.london .

When asked if the swelling on Rice's knee had gone down yet, Arteta replied in his press conference on Friday morning: "Not yet, and we have another session today, so let’s see how he comes in today and how that’s feeling, but [he Villa] game was too early for him."

The Spaniard was also quizzed on whether Arsenal had any fresh injury concerns, to which he said: "No, we haven’t trained yet, so today’s going to be the first training session with the players who started against Villa. We will know more this afternoon."

Nwaneri is one of the players that should be pushing to start in place of injured midfielder Rice but the England U21 starlet has found minutes hard to come by this season.

The Gunners are likely to consider any loan approaches they receive for the teenager's services but there are still no guarantees Nwaneri will be allowed to leave.

Arteta said today when quizzed on the attacking midfielder's future: "Every player is very important, every player has a role. That role can change throughout the season for different reasons and everybody has to be ready to play."