Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Declan Rice and Riccardo Calafiori will be available for tomorrow’s trip to Selhurst Park and the manager is confident Oleksandr Zinchenko could join them in the squad.
Rice sat out Wednesday’s Carabao Cup win over Palace with an unspecified issue having been substituted in the second half of last Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Everton. It’s previously been reported that he has a toe issue and is being carefully managed.
Calafiori hasn’t featured since the 5-2 win over West Ham at the end of November. His stop-start campaign was most recently interrupted by a groin issue.
“They are both available,” confirmed Arteta in Friday’s pre-game press conference.
And when asked about Zinchenko, who hasn’t been seen since the 2-0 win over Manchester United, he added: “I think he could be available.”
It doesn’t sound like anybody else has picked up any issues, so only Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu, long-term absentees with knee injuries, are unavailable. It’ll be interesting to see who makes the squad, as not everybody will be required to make the trip south of the river.
It’s possible Kieran Tierney, who completed 70 minutes on Wednesday, could drop out. After making his first appearance for the Gunners since last season’s Community Shield, it was quickly reported by The Athletic that Arteta has no plans to activate an extension clause in the Scot’s contract and that the player will be available for transfer in January.
“At the moment he’s here with us,” said Arteta. “I wouldn’t play a player that is thinking about leaving or is not committed to us.
He’s fully committed, he’s enjoying things after a long period again with a really tough injury. Live the moment. He’s a big part of the squad now. He deserves to be in the squad, he played really well the other day after such a long time. That’s the only thing I can say.
“He hasn’t come to me and said, I want to move. When in the past we had any doubts, he came to me and said, I think it’s my time to move. This hasn’t been the case yet.”
Arteta’s other big decision is whether to stick with Gabriel Jesus in attack after the Brazil international bagged a hat-trick on Wednesday against the Eagles.
On the one hand, there must be a strong temptation to see if he can repeat the trick. On the other, he could be a useful weapon off the bench if a rested Kai Havertz doesn’t cut the mustard.
Either way, it’s positive that Jesus has topped up his confidence levels after a difficult period.
“He was very happy,” reflected Arteta. “Everybody in the team was really happy, especially because he helped the team to win the game and get to the semi-finals, which is what we wanted.
“You can see that immediate reaction of him, big smile on his face, big energy around him. That’s what we need, to have everybody in the highest level of performance. Gabi certainly had a big one on Wednesday.
He added: “He’s been looking really good since he came back from pre-season. After he had a setback, he started to play some good performances without scoring.
“Obviously, what he did the other day, I think it’s exactly what we need from our [number] nines.”
It’s been a couple of fairly quiet outinga for Havertz so hope he does cut the mustard tomorrow and is red hot in front of goal like tabasco, though he mayo or may not score a hat trick like Jesus did, if you ketchup my drift.
*outings
Let’s start winning some silverware again we are the ARSE ffs!
ARSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A Jesus with confidence could be a big asset for us. Let’s hope he keeps going!
That hat trick by Nketiah.
I just hope KT leaves in the summer with a PL medal around his neck.
All well and good, but doesn’t he need a minimum number of appearances to qualify for one?
I don’t see how Gabriel Jesus doesn’t start, unless there’s a doubt about fitness/stamina or Arteta wants him for the next game. But I think that would be a mistake: he scored a hat trick against *these* defenders! It was a cup game, but it wasn’t a lower-division side or a rotated back four (like ours), it was the same opponents. And all three goals were quality and full of confidence (whether one of the goals was marginally offside is completely irrelevant to that issue).
I think it could end up being about fitness/stamina as you say, and about keeping Havertz game fit too. You don’t want to get one striker back to form while losing the other… but it’s a super tricky balance to strike for sure. Plus you could argue now Palace have conceded those 3 goals they will be able to analyse the video and prepare for Jesus, who played a very intense 90 minutes and will surely be a bit fatigued… As a fan of football I’d prefer Jesus to start, I just so love watching him play when he’s clicking,… Read more »