Petr Cech has resumed training ahead of Arsenal’s Europa League quarter-final first-leg clash against CSKA Moscow tomorrow night.
The 35-year-old missed Sunday’s Premier League game against Stoke with a minor groin issue but was one of the first players out at London Colney this morning as the squad went through their final preparations before the game at the Emirates.
Danny Welbeck ended the previous match with a stiff back but he was also present, with Arsenal able to report no major injury scares on the eve of a game that has assumed key importance in the club’s season.
Arsenal’s hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League appear to rest on winning this competition, given they have fallen 13 points behind fourth-placed Tottenham in the Premier League.
Assistant boss Steve Bould, who filled in for Arsene Wenger due to illness at a press conference last week, insisted they were not yet at a stage of prioritising the Europa League but the team selection against Stoke on Sunday suggested otherwise.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Granit Xhaka and Laurent Koscielny — all of whom are expected to start tomorrow night — were left on the bench as a precaution in Arsenal’s 3-0 win.
Xhaka and Mkhitaryan came on as second-half substitutes, as did Alexandre Lacazette for his first appearance since February 10, following a knee injury.
Meanwhile, CSKA reached this stage after finishing third in a Champions League group which also contained Manchester United — who beat them home and away— before coming through a tight last-32 tie against Red Star Belgrade, who were in Arsenal’s Europa League group.
They then overturned a first-leg deficit against Lyon to book a quarter-final spot on away goals.
