Mikel Arteta says Aaron Ramsdale remains a doubt for Monday’s trip to Crystal Palace but Bukayo Saka, who missed England’s recent friendlies due to Covid, should be available.
Ramsdale picked up a muscle problem in the hip area during the 2-0 defeat to Liverpool and was absent from the 1-0 win against Aston Villa. Prior to the match, the manager said the goalkeeper would be absent for “a few weeks”.
As things stand, he’s not yet returned to full training which suggests Bernd Leno will continue between the sticks.
“Aaron is a doubt, he’s still feeling not great, he hasn’t trained yet and we don’t know what he’ll be able to do on Monday,” said Arteta on Thursday afternoon.
“He wanted to play against Villa but it was a significant injury. He had to take his time. The physios are doing everything they can to make him available but we will see in the next few days when he starts to do real training.”
On Saka, he said: “Bukayo is feeling good, he’s training today, hopefully, if he’s still feeling as he was yesterday.”
Put to him that Saka’s enforced break might play into Arsenal’s hands, he continued: “I don’t know how much he would have played [for England], sometimes when a player is in a good moment, you don’t want to stop it.
“It is what it is, he had Covid, we had to take him out of the national team. He had time to rest and recover and he’ll be trying again in the next few days to again hit the form that he was in.”
Right-back Takehiro Tomiyasu, who hasn’t played since January, is also closing in on a return.
“I think he will be close,” said Arteta. “He’s been training more and more. He has the boys now back so he will be joining some more sessions this week, so let’s see how he is.”
On why the Japan international has been out for so long, he added: “He had a recurring injury, but in the other calf, which was strange and difficult to predict.
“He’s been through a lot in the last couple of years with all the Covid, the amount of games that he’s played, the transition to a different league where the intensity is completely different.
“We can find the right reasons [for his absence] but hopefully he doesn’t go through that situation again because, especially for him, it’s been tough.”
Arsenal have had a whole host of players away on international duty all over the globe, so we’re hoping the rest of them have returned to London Colney in one piece.
So nice to have the luxury of Leno, at the moment.
Yeah. I was looking back at his Arsenal saves recently and he has been quite the goalie for us. It’s so easy to forget.
I think it’s interesting that we keep saying that this squad just can’t get any injuries due to its lack of depth. But we’ve been without our first choice RB for two months, ESR has basically been out all year and we’ve lost Ramsdale too. But yet we keep on winning.
Real belief and determination in this squad of players.
Indeed! Perhaps the early exits from the cups wasn’t such a bad thing…
I think Ramsdale deserves to be our first choice for two related reasons: he is more confident with the ball at his feet (and expresses more confidence generally) and meshes better with Gabriel, White, and Partey and the way we are trying to play. Leno is probably still a better shot-stopper at this stage of his career. Nothing but respect for the way Leno has handled himself.
The major miss would be ramsdale’s ability to keep the ball at the back and his part in ball progression. Good luck to Leno if he starts. Palace are tricky customers.
Leno and Cedric aren’t too terrible substitutes (though Ramsdale and Tomi are obviously first choices).
Let’s hope we can keep our squad depth after the summer and get the youngsters (esp Saka) signed up.
CP could surprise Arsenal.Zaha must not be allowed to roam un- marked for he could wreak havoc.
I am confident the defence can withstand any attack CP can mount.
Of course there are no easy games in the epl
Zaha’s injured
Then he shall definitely not roam unmarked…
He’ll be as unmarked as can be… on the sidelines
But he played for Ivory Coast the other day??
Palace is a strong side with Viera at the helm, but we are mich better team than when they outplayed us at the Emirates earlier this season. I think Arteta will have a plan to break them down. It will be a very tough match but we can beat them without Aaron and Takehiro… Leno and Soares have served us well.