Arsenal make the trip to Portugal to face Sporting CP in the Europa League on Thursday night and there’s some early team news ahead of this clash.

At the Gunners’ open training session held on Wednesday three players were absent from the group practice ahead of the tie.

Leandro Trossard, Eddie Nketiah and Kieran Tierney were all notable absentees from the session, with Trossard and Nketiah both currently nursing injuries.

Kieran Tierney however was spotted in the car park at London Colney just minutes before the session started, dressed in a black club tracksuit with his hood up heading back to his car.

Vavel UK can confirm that the Scotland international has not been training recently and will not travel to Portugal due to Illness.

This comes as a major blow for the 25-year-old who has struggled for minutes in recent weeks due to the hot form of Arsenal’s Ukrainian full-back Oleksandr Zinchenko who appears a regular starter for the Premier League leaders.

Whilst Nketiah, Trossard and Tierney’s exclusions remain a blow for Arsenal, a major boost was handed to them as their Brazilian forward Gabriel Jesus returned to group training having been out since the World Cup back in early December.

Jesus, who had surgery on his knee before Christmas looked to be in good spirits, wishing members of the press a good morning as he headed out to group training dressed in his training gear alongside the rest of the squad.

During the session the 25-year-old didn’t look to be holding back as he participated in the warm-up, sprinting at full tilt in moments and hugging his teammates on the field looking delighted to be back.

Despite it being a huge boost for Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal side, the Brazilian won't be expected to start or play a major part in Thursday's game as he still hasn’t featured in any capacity for the club since he’s resumed training.

Arsenal will hope that he may be able to play more of a role in Sunday’s Premier League game at Fulham.

Players also participating in the training included Saturday’s late goalscoring hero Reiss Nelson and Emile Smith-Rowe. Both who will be hoping to get minutes out in Portugal on Thursday night.

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Smith-Rowe featured as a substitute in the Premier League on Saturday against Bournemouth after Leandro Trossard was forced off early in the game. The England international only ended up playing 47 minutes as he was still returning to fitness and will hope to feature again more in the coming weeks.

Arsenal’s test at the José Alvalade Stadium is in the last 16 of the UEFA Europa League and provides a tough test for Mikel Arteta’s side. The Portuguese side currently sit fourth in the Liga Portugal table with four wins in their past five games.

Arsenal will attempt to rotate for this match with an important fixture also at the weekend when they travel to Craven Cottage to face Fulham in the Premier League.

As well as Smith-Rowe and Nelson, Jorginho who was an unused substitute against Bournemouth will be expected to come into the side as Arsenal attempt to progress past the round of 16 in the Europa League.