Mikel Arteta says it’s too early to make a decision on who will and won’t be fit to face Brentford despite suggestions from the Ukrainian national team that Oleksandr Zinchenko has suffered a calf injury.
While the versatile left-back has ruled himself out of upcoming international matches against Scotland and Armenia, the boss was coy on the extent of the problem and whether his summer signing will have to sit out Sunday’s clash at the Community Stadium.
“We have to wait until tomorrow to make that decision,” he said. “Where he was in that moment and what we have decided to do for him on the international week doesn’t mean that we’re going to say the same for the weekend. It’s something we will address tomorrow.”
Is it a simple case of mind games with the Bees or does he think the Ukrainian’s injury isn’t that bad after all? We’ll have to wait and see.
On other team news, he added: “Unfortunately, that day [for team news] will be tomorrow when we have the last training session, today there’s not much to give.
“We have still those 24 hours to see if one or two can be considered tomorrow for training and for sure selection and that will be key in the next 24 hours.”
Thomas Partey is understood to have returned to full training since Arsenal faced FC Zurich last week and could be in contention to take over from Sambi Lokonga in the centre of midfield.
There are also question marks over Cedric and Emile Smith Rowe while Mohamed Elneny is a long-term absentee after suffering a bad hamstring injury.
On Smith Rowe, he said: “That’s been an ongoing issue that he’s had. He’s had some discomfort in the groin area and hasn’t had any continuity this season. We’re trying to help him in any way we can because we need him.”
Arteta did make clear that Ben White is fit when it was asked if the player wasn’t selected by England due to an injury.
Please start Partey on Sunday – he’s going to play for Ghana afterwards no matter what so might as well use him if we can
No matter who wears the Jersey on Sunday, the aim should be to take the three points. Brentford have started well, scoring lots of goals (9 in 2 games), but Arsenal in our full flow should be too much for them. They will most likely play like United – seek to catch us on the break; Arteta must guard against that. An early goal would help us settle nicely; and if that happens, we may get a couple or so more as they chase the game.
COYG!
Meanwhile, remember this boys:
“Nice kick around with the boys,” Ivan Toney.
PAY BACK TIME, please.
I was at the Emirates for the return match.
It was so beautiful stuffing them.
Yes, I hope so and think we’ll win (although I’m sure most/all of us would have said the same thing before the match last season). We need a “good” win to boost morale after the disappointment at Old Trafford. By that I mean we’re able to reflect our performance – assuming we give a good performance, of course – in the score line. Let’s try not to have another scrambled 2:1-type victory of the recent kind if we’ve dominated the game. All that said, I’d still take 1:0 with the ball going into their net off their goalkeeper’s backside on… Read more »
I was looking ahead to our October schedule the other day, and honestly without Man City in there anymore, it’s just not anywhere near as daunting as I remember. I really think it’s entirely possible that we can continue the level of performances we’ve seen so far this season and come out of that month in an incredibly strong position before the world cup. Keep our key starters fit and firing for the league matches (looking at you, TP!), and get the likes of Eddie, Vieira, Sambi, Marquinhos and (fingers crossed) ESR into those Thursday fixtures, and it’s purely down… Read more »
Agreed. Same number of games, but the postponement of the City game takes some pressure off.
Before, the schedule was 6 Premier League games and 3 Europa League.
Now it’s 5 Premier League and 4 Europa League.
Mikel could practically split the squad into two teams for October.
I think Zinchenko was also fairly injury-prone at Man City so this isn’t very surprising, and it’s great to have an LB in Tierney where the drop-off from starter to replacement isn’t all that huge.
We can start to be worried when both of them get knocks/spells of unavailability that overlap, though.
I want to Neville & Carragher consoling the shell-shocked Brentford fans post-match. “There, there. There’s no shame in allowing Jesus score a first half hat-trick”
Any news on Nelson?