Why key Arsenal stars missed training before Premier League finale explained

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Evening Standard

·21 Mei 2026

Why key Arsenal stars missed training before Premier League finale explained

Gunners preparing for Crystal Palace trip and Champions League final against PSG

Max Dowman was absent from Arsenal’s open training session on Thursday as the youngest player ever to win a Premier League title switches his focus between football and exams.

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Manchester City’s draw away at Bournemouth on Tuesday night confirmed a first Premier League title for Arsenal since 2004 - over five years before Dowman was born - but rather than just celebrating, the teenager has also been occupied with his GCSEs.

16-year-old Dowman has had to juggle the Gunners’ title charge with his education all season.

Exam season is the reason that he was not present in training at London Colney on Thursday, ahead of the away trip to Crystal Palace on the final day of the top-flight campaign.

No problems: William Saliba and Bukayo Saka both took part in individual training on Thursday

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Bukayo Saka, William Saliba and David Raya also weren’t involved in the session open to the media, but they are not injured and were understood to be working on individual training programmes elsewhere.

Mikel Merino was spotted out on the grass and is expected to return to group training on Friday following four months out with a foot fracture, though Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Jurrien Timber remains slightly behind the Spaniard in his recovery from a groin injury that has kept him sidelined since mid-March.

It is hoped that Timber could resume training next week, with right-back understudy Ben White ruled out until next season with a knee injury.

With Arsenal’s attention now turning to the Champions League final against holders Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest on May 30, there is a high chance that Dowman will be given playing time against Palace, who have their own European final to focus on as they prepare to meet Rayo Vallecano in the Conference League showpiece in Leipzig next Wednesday.

The attacking midfielder has made five Premier League appearances since his debut off the bench against Leeds in August. He grabbed his first senior goal against Everton in March to become the Premier League’s youngest-ever goalscorer, but is yet to make his full league debut for the champions.

Arteta will be expected to have Dowman involved in his preparations for next weekend’s final against PSG.

The youngster will hope to earn his second winners’ medal in a matter of weeks, with Dowman having made three appearances during Arsenal’s Champions League campaign.

The Chelmsford-born winger has been involved in every matchday squad of the knockout rounds, last getting on the pitch in both legs of Arsenal’s 1-0 aggregate victory over Sporting in the quarter-finals.