Bruno Guimaraes
Bruno Guimaraes
A midfielder who misses one open session can still start the next midweek. Managers hold players on a Thursday and put them in the XI five days later if the work looks clean.
Expectation is not selection. Training-ground reports get ahead of the team-sheet. The press conference in Italy will be the proper word.
New signings are managed in bursts. Twenty minutes at Villa Park is not the same as a Champions League away night, but it is how the minutes build.
READ MORE: Arsenal handed huge injury boost ahead of Napoli clash
Bruno Guimaraes has trained fully with Arsenal’s first team today and is expected to start against Napoli on Wednesday. the Brazil midfielder was absent from Thursday’s open session before Chelsea and had been described by Mikel Arteta as “probably OK”.
He joined from Newcastle in a £75million deal and missed the Coventry opener after a knock in the Community Shield. He then played as a substitute in the 1-0 win at Aston Villa. Sunday’s 2-1 comeback against Chelsea came with Declan Rice available and Guimaraes still being eased in.
🚨Bruno Guimaraes is in full first-team training for Arsenal today and is expected to start against Napoli on Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/Pfp1ineqLY
— now.arsenal (@now_arsenaI) September 8, 2026
Full training two days before Naples is the strongest sign yet that Arteta trusts the workload. Rice remains the constant in midfield. Martin Odegaard is in form after scoring the winner at the weekend. A start for Guimaraes would likely mean a midfield three rather than another cameo.
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Napoli at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona is Arsenal’s first Champions League league-phase match, 8pm UK time on TNT Sports 2. It is a different intensity from Villa and Chelsea. Arteta has spoken all summer about the type of midfielder he wanted. Starting him in Italy would be the first real examination of that signing on the road in Europe.
The same set of posts has Jurrien Timber back in full training. Mosquera is still a doubt. Saliba is out until November. The midfield picture is healthier than the defence. If Guimaraes starts, it is because the club believe the Community Shield issue is behind him.
Until Arteta names the side, expected is only expected. The useful fact is the session. He is with the group, not in the gym, and the reporting line is that he is in line to begin the European campaign from the first minute. That would be a faster turnaround than Thursday’s absence suggested.