Arsenal have confirmed that David Luiz is available for tomorrow’s Europa League clash with Norwegian side Molde.
The Brazilian missed the wins against Dundalk and Manchester United with a thigh problem picked up in the defeat to Leicester but has recovered.
Elsewhere in the defence, it looks like Calum Chambers will beat Pablo Mari to full fitness. The Englishman is already taking part in first team training and just needs to get match sharp. Presumably, he’ll get some minutes with the under-23s in the coming weeks.
Pablo was due to return to full training in September, however, that got pushed back to October and the Gunners medical team now think it’ll be after the November Interlull that the Spaniard takes part in full sessions. The centre-back will have been out for four months by that point after sustaining a significant ankle sprain in the July defeat to Manchester City at the Etihad.
Having undergone surgery on his knee, Gabriel Martinelli still has another seven weeks of work ahead of him before he’ll be in contention.
Is Pablo still under warranty?
No taksies backsies, unfortunately.
We are quite literally Maried now
I’m personally very excited Chambo is coming back and I’m really hopefull he stays fit.
He was in my opinion our best central defender last season including Artetas reign, where defence really improved.
If he gets a chance he might even tip inform Gabriel, and those two could make great partnership once we start playin 2 at the back.
englishman tinted spectacles again—-no he is not the new tony adams—-we should have taken the 20mill offered by palace or whoever a couple of seasons ago– he also goes into the flop folder-been waiting an age for him to come good– was probably the reason we got rid of luke ayling all those years ago and look at him now
saliba is the one we have to bank on now as we have spent the pounds on him— holding is poor as well just another over rated englishman eg mancguaire
Ayling leaves and 2010 / Chambers joins in 2014 but somehow they’re related?
I am English and it’s undeniable that Chambers hasn’t lived up to expectations. He was one of the most expensive teenagers when Wenger bought him way back in 2014 for £16million. It’s not all his fault, of course, injuries, loans etc. played a part (and he was thrown in at the deep end almost from the start by Wenger – not one of the best decisions from such a famed “man manager” as AW!). Despite some improvement in form, the overall picture is that he’s not quite good enough. He’s 25 years old now so if he’s not going to… Read more »
Hindsight is such a wonderful thing…You can probably put up similar comments for stones at man city…chamberlain at Liverpool..Jota while at wolves..shakiri at Liverpool and comes out like you are Mr know everything.
Luke Ayling is such a skittish defender – all over the place. Like Mustafi at his worst Chambers is a very competent but not eye catching CB – definitely not an RB. For some reason he doesn’t benefit from those English tinted specs at all and has actually unfairly found himself written off by Arsenal fans in general on a few occasions. He also seems to be a rare example of a player who gets worse in the eyes of fans when he’s not playing. He’s had terrible luck too, becoming 1st choice pick at CB at least 3 times,… Read more »
And besides, there is room for all of Gabriel, Holding, Saliba, Chambers and maybe even Mari in our future plans. We likely won’t buy another CB next summer, and Luiz, Mustafi and Sokratis will all (hopefully) be out of contract
If they can get over their injury issues, that’s a pretty talented and well rounded group of CBs, all at a good age. No need to panic sell or come to any definitive judgements on any of them just yet
Why are you bringing race into it?
A nationality isn’t a race
Everything is a race if you’re a brainless “woke” marxist douche xD
I like Chambers more than most, but he’s not a top 6 defender in my opinion.
But Dier and Linderlof are? The bar for top 6 CBs is pretty low atm, Chambers easily clears it.
Actually Linderlof was pretty decent against us, got a number of critical blocks (v Auba)and interceptions (v Laca)
Obviously the rest of their team were shite and Oli is clueless.
You can say the same about many defenders at leicester, but it doesn’t matter, doesn’t it. Anyway Chambers was part of a top 4 squad for 2 seasons at least…
You win some, you lose some. That’s what a squad is for. Ours hasn’t really been tested fully yet, but it will be.
Jayzus – Mari is the reason why Saliba didn’t make the EL squad, what a wasted opportunity for Saliba to show Mikel he should be in the PL squad week in week out
True, though europa league is a good platform for recovering and regaining match fitness and hence mari inclusion seems valid in that regards. Shame he got himself injured again.
True, they expected Mari to be back sooner when they submitted the EL squad list.
It’s a shame we pulled Liverpool and City now in the Carabao Cup. Anyone else would have probably been ideal for Saliba getting some game time
Mari is Arteta’s 1st signing at Arsenal. If he had removed Pablo from the Europa League squad, he would be opening himself up to questions regarding the transfer.
We can credit Mari to Edu, not so much Arteta. How much influence could he have had on the signing having been hired only a month before with such a daunting task ahead.
Good point. Mari was very much an agent signing. Though I’d argue by Sanllehi, who appears to be friends with agent of Emery and Mari, Canales.
But Arteta made it clear he wanted Mari to be a permanent transfer, which eventually happened. Sanllehi was fired before Arteta chose the UEL squad.
Officially Mari is seen as an Arteta signing.
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/mikel-arteta/spielertransfers/trainer/47620/plus/1
I wouldn’t ‘blame’ anyone for signing Mari
He was cheap, had some qualities we lacked during Jan-20 when our outlook at CB was looking very grim, and you couldn’t have predicted his injuries + lockdown cutting short his run in the side. Looked half decent in his few appearances too
I do agree that it is a wasted opportunity. Injuries don’t heal at mathematical speed. I hope Mikel learns from it.
I would have thought Saliba for EL and Sokratis in the PL squad!
Hope he recovers fully soon. If he is good, he can be given games to rest Gabriel and Holding, and if not too good, the contract means we can still cash on him
True. For me Holding-Gabriel-Partey-Elneny should be the main spine of the team.
If Robbie can stay fit, 100%
Mari’s star has somewhat been eclipsed by Gabriel. But potentially a useful 4th choice CB.
Another Raul masterclass
So excited for Martinelli to come back. Hopefully he can inject a little dynamism into our attacking play
Me too, but don’t get your hopes up too high right away. Knee injuries take a long time to recover from and his explosiveness was a big part of his game. He probably won’t be himself for a good bit after he comes back.
Do we really need Mari at this point? Strange signing.
I’d say yes, considering we had 2 fit centre backs just the day other day. This is Arsenal, we more than anybody shouldn’t take players fitness for granted
Chambers is a good player, but he is injury prone. We go through this everytime he comes back, and then he is injured again. We should maybe sell him and invest the money in great signings like Partey and Gabriel. Great news with David Luiz coming back. We can rest Gabriel on Thursday and not risk Holding getting injured.
Agree on Chambers but he is still young his bones will get stronger and defenders mature late. very few defenders can play ball like him, i wish him a speedy sustaining recovery. Oh yes i have never felt so comfortable with our defense since the Tony/Sol days all coz of Gabriel. he is a fluid rock! but guys Pepe is very often a no show, and that hurts coz he is our most expensive player, cost us more than Ozil, Auba… he must let his feet talk the cash now. I like Lacazette s 9-Play, its solid and keeps defenders… Read more »
Please go check chambers injury recover. Chambers is not injury prone.
Chambers brings some versatility to the fold as well having played DM for Fulham. He was fine at right back until Montero gave him a hard time. From what I’ve seen I think his distribution is better than Holdings but Rob is stronger in the air and making tackles and blocks. I hope Chambers can do an Elneny and prove the doubters wrong because there’s a baller in there.
I’m sure Saliba would have made the squad if we realised how long Mari would be out for
I can’t believe saliba hasn’t started yet? William Fofana is another French teenager that came from the same team and has already started with Leicester. Did we get the wrong French teen, I hope not. Maybe Arteta’s fitness standards are really high. By the end of the next summer window mustafi, Özil, xhaka, kolasinac and sokratis will all be sold and or replaced.
David Luz most wonderful football player from me. He is a hard working player also. I hope he will do good more for his team in next.