Mikel Arteta sounded relatively positive about the state of his squad ahead of Saturday’s clash with Bournemouth at the Vitality.
Despite a couple of players dropping out of international duty – Thomas Partey and Kai Havertz – and two others – Saka and Martinelli – picking up issues while they were away, it sounds like they are all in contention for the trip to the South Coast.
There was also a positive update on Martin Odegaard, who continues to rehabilitate an ankle ligament injury. Unfortunately, the manager confirmed that Takehiro Tomiyasu has picked up a new problem having made his first appearance of the season in the pre-Interlull win over Southampton.
Here’s what the boss had to say in his pre-game press conference.
On Bukayo Saka…
It’s not a serious injury, he’s evolving really well, he’s done a few things in the last two days. Obviously, he wasn’t fit enough to play with the national team in the second game [against Finland] We are hopeful. We have a training session this afternoon, he did some bits yesterday, so let’s see if he can make it on time.
On Martin Odegaard…
I think he’s not going to be fit for this game, next week is a different story. But again, in that later stage of rehab, where he is at the moment, he is doing already a lot of stuff, he needs to clear some markers, he needs to clear certain things he needs to be comfortable doing, especially with the ball. I think next week will be crucial to understand how close he is.
On Odegaard being back inside the next 7 games (before the next Interlull)…
Yes. Hopefully, yes.
On Kai Havertz…
He had a few issues, we’ve been dealing with that. He’s been absolutely brilliant. He has very good communication with the national team, the manager, and he understood the situation. Obviously, we have modified everything we could do here and, again, if he trains well today, he’s has a chance to be fit and available.
On Ben White, Jurrien Timber, Oleksandr Zinchenko…
They are quite close the three of them, again today we’re going to have to try and push [in training] and see who is [available] because obviously we are a bit struggling with the numbers especially in our the right side. Hopefully, we have some positive news today and we’ll have some players back for tomorrow.
On Thomas Partey…
Yeah, Thomas is fit.
On Gabriel Martinelli…
With Gabi, he landed yesterday afternoon here. We have had a very short time to be with him. Yesterday, he went outside to do a little bit and to see how he’s feeling and today will be another step to understand whether we want to take the risk on if he’s fit. I know what the player is going to say, he’ll say fit for sure.
On Tomiyasu…
Yeah, we don’t know [how long]. It doesn’t look like, hopefully, a long period. We have to see when he comes back, how he reacts to the load and the impact on the pitch. We really need him, he’s been incredible, the work rate, the amount of hours he’s put in to get back. He did it. He was in great shape and now he’s got something else again. We are all behind him, he needs our support and hopefully, he’ll be fine.
Tomiyasu?
Christ, he’s not even mentioned anymore. Such a shame, as when fully fit he’s comfortably good enough to compete with anyone in the squad.
Apart from ‘Unfortunately, the manager confirmed that Takehiro Tomiyasu has picked up a new problem having made his first appearance of the season in the pre-Interlull win over Southampton.’ above.
he *was* mentioned…
Sorry, added the update. We forgot to copy and paste it from our transcript!
Still no news on Kenny Sansom’s metatarsal either…
He didn’t go away on International Duty, did he? Or was it something in training again?
Arteta says things on his players’ fitness without giving anything away. We only know when we see the match day list.😀
Shame about Tomi. We really need to think in January/next summer if he’s someone we can rely on consistently.
Not exactly related but I found out today that Kai has his own donkey sanctuary. I thought I couldn’t love the man any more, but there we go
He’ll be hosting a lot of premier league defenders there once our attackers are done with them.
Visiting his forlorn donkeys milling about and braying must serve as a stark reminder of his days at Chelsea.
He also did a fundraiser for flooding victims in his home region. Seems to be pretty down to earth.
Just to make myself feel better I’ll list who IS fully fit despite having questions over 8 different guys:
Raya, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Kiwior, Thomas, Rice, Merino, Jorginho, Nwaneri, Trossard, Jesus, Sterling.
Pretty nice options.
I guess (and hope) that everyone but Martin and Tomi (and Kieran ofc) will be available to face Liverpool next Sunday which will be our first big game at home this season. Not ideal to miss out captain but think we’ve been doing quite well without him (although we’d be better with him 100%)
Bournemouth are one of the most committed high pressing teams with some of the best numbers for high regains. I suspect Arteta will just simply play over them and build attacks off the second balls like we did against Spurs. Havertz would be a big miss but with Merino back we have another massive aerial target. Out of possession I expect us to go man to man in their half a d rack up a few high regains of our own. Scott Willis looked at the data on this and Arsenal have the highest shots generated from high regains in… Read more »
Sad for Tomi 😗😭😭😭