Mikel Arteta has provided the latest team news update ahead of our clash with Nottingham Forest on Saturday afternoon.
The Gunners have had doubts over the course of the Interlull on the likes of Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice who both came off injured in the 1-1 draw with Chelsea; Leandro Trossard who reportedly picked up a knock while playing for Belgium; as well as Riccardo Calafiori and Takehiro Tomiyasu who spent time sidelined before the break.
Speaking at his press conference this afternoon, the Arsenal boss provided updates on those players, starting with the Belgian.
“Trossard trained this morning and he seems to be feeling good,” he said.
“We will assess everything with the doctor right now, but he was able to do part of that session, so that’s good. Bukayo and Declan as well, they had their first session today, partial session, so very good as well.
“Ricky trained today. His rehab has gone really well, he was able to set some things last week with the physios, he trained on the pitch this week, he trained with us today as well so he’s back in the squad.”
He also updated on Kieran Tierney who was seen in training this week, as well as Takehiro Tomiyasu.
“Kieran is not ready yet,” he said. “He had a couple of sessions with the team but not ready yet to be with the team, and Tomiyasu is going to be out as well for a period.
“He’s going to be away now for a few weeks to continue with his treatments and as well change a little bit the environment, because psychologically it’s been really, really tough for him as you can imagine.
“He’s a guy that the only thing that he wants to do is work 24 hours to get better and he feels terrible when he’s not fit. So it’s a real shame.
“We want to give him the best opportunity to try that kind of thing as well. If we can trigger something and unlock something and try to help him, to have him back as quick as possible. But I think we need to be patient.”
There was also a further update on Ben White who had surgery on a knee problem, and Arteta revealed he’s going to be out for an extended period.
“We had to make a decision,” he said. “It’s not been improving in the last few weeks unfortunately. We know that Ben is going to push every boundary, but it got to a point where we had to protect the player and we decided to do the surgery.
“He agreed with that and obviously that’s going to keep him out for a few months.
“We have to see how he reacts post-surgery. I don’t expect him to be half of a year, but I cannot tell you exactly.”
So, some good, some bad, but let’s hope it’s enough to get going again on Saturday afternoon.
Timber a very able deputy – let’s see him build a relationship with Saka and Odegaard down that right hand side.
Happy he will play on the right as I believe it suits him better than the left one. Just a bit worried that our backup option at RB is Partey although he did well when he played there.
Yeah, really no need to play Partey at RB with Timber available and Zinny or even Kiwior able to play LB. It’s what we miss with Partey being in the middle rather than him being an awful RB!
Gutted about Tomiyasu, that guy just can’t buy a, change of luck (was going to say break but thought better of it)…
I hope he is ok tho, the psychological aspect of his injuries might be worse than the physical.
Glad Califouri is back. We are a little light on the right-hand side without Ben, and Tomi being out too. Fingers crossed we start a healthy winning run, COYG! 27 finals in the PL, we can do this!
Concerning that 3 players have only had half a training session. I can’t see us putting out a strong team tomorrow.
Really bad news about Ben White. He’ll be out “a few months”, but less than six months.
3 months would be late February.
I think I read somewhere but can’t remember where that he is targeting the end of January.
Let’s hope for the best.
It makes you wonder how long he has played through the pain of this injury.
Always a WARRIOR ❤️
Gotta wonder why the surgery didnt happen in the summer. We knew he was ailing towaeds the end of the last season and he didnt go away with England.
Death to interlulls!
It wasn’t the interlull that crocked Ben though…Tomi probably gets injured just by opening a bag of crips. Tierney just has to sneeze before his hamstring pops. I do hope that we soon get a team that is as near 100% fit as possible. Fit players + No Red Card = Title Challenging Team.
Without Ødegaard and with White unable to overlap consistently (and Partey as a replacement also unable to play the “fit Ben White” role), Saka becomes much less dangerous. It is amazing that he has done as well as he has. Now with Ødegaard back and a run of games to develop a relationship with Timber, the right side of the attack becomes much more of a threat, and opens space for Havertz. A bit more fluidity will go a long way.