Mikel Arteta admits he is still unsure as to whether Aaron Ramsdale and Martin Odegaard will be available for this weekend's trip to Manchester United.
The duo picked up knocks in the 2-1 win against Aston Villa on Wednesday night, with Odegaard forced off and Ramsdale playing through the pain barrier to see out our fifth win from our opening five games.
However, Arteta believes neither are certain to play a part at Old Trafford as he considers juggling his pack once again as injuries begin to take their toll, with Oleksandr Zinchenko due to miss out again with a knee issue.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, he said: "Those two [Ramsdale and Odegaard] are being assessed, we will see more tomorrow. Hopefully they will be able to train with the team.
"Unfortunately with Alex [Zinchenko] that’s still not the case, he missed two games and has not been able to train with the team yet."
Thomas Partey [thigh] and Mohamed Elneny [hamstring] are also out of the game, with the boss revealing some potential timeframes for the midfield pair, as well as the ongoing efforts to find a solution to the Ghana international's recurring issues.
"With Mo it’s probably a little bit easier and we are talking months," he said. "With Thomas, hopefully we are talking weeks or even shorter than that I hope.
"We have tried to manage [Thomas]. A lot has happened since he joined and we are trying to find the best possible way to find the reason why that happens, but unfortunately, the body and mind are two different groups so sometimes to understand that you can’t put your finger on a single thing to try to prevent something happening.
"The attitude of the player is there and he’s really disappointed to be out again as you can imagine, and the team needs him when he’s back."
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