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Football London
Football London
Sport
Tashan Deniran-Alleyne

What happened between Reiss Nelson and Mohamed Elneny in Arsenal training ahead of Benfica clash

The Arsenal squad have completed their final training session on home soil ahead of Thursday night's Europa League clash against Benfica.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the round of 32 first-leg tie will not be staged at Benfica's Estadio da Luz, but instead will be taking place at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

So it's Italy, not Portgual for Mikel Arteta's side as they look to continue their 100 per cent winning record in the competition this season.

As things stand, Arsenal's only chance of playing European football next season will be to win the Europa League which would also finally mean a return to the Champions League after a long four-year absence.

Ahead of the big game in Rome, the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Nicolas Pepe, Kieran Tierney, Bukayo Saka, and Emile Smith Rowe were all put through their paces at the club's London Colney training base on Wednesday afternoon.

In fact, the only first-team absentee was Thomas Partey.

It was a normal session as one would expect, but there was a hilarious moment involving Reiss Nelson and Mohamed Elneny.

As spotted in a behind-the-scenes of Arsenal's training session, the pair, jokingly, square up to each other in Boxing stances, with the former hitting the latter in the face before running off.

Elneny doesn't quite get revenge on the winger as despite catching up with Nelson, he just gives him a little tap on the back before the pair resume their mini-scuffle.

Both players are aiming to be included in the squad that makes the trip to Italy.

For Nelson, he has not been involved in a first-team fixture since the FA Cup third-round win over Newcastle United at the beginning of last month.

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