Ahead of our trip to Fulham on Sunday, Mikel Arteta provided updates on those players who were missing in midweek against Sporting CP, as well as the long-awaited return of Gabriel Jesus.
Martin Odegaard and Kieran Tierney were not available for the Europa League round of 16 tie on Thursday after suffering from illness, and Mikel said he’ll wait until the end of our final training session before the game to confirm their availability.
“I hope they do [train],” he said. “Martin was feeling better and then he became a little bit worse, but hopefully he is able to train today.”
Another name making the headlines is Jesus who returned to full training this week, but when can our supporters see our number nine step out onto the pitch again?
“He had a bad injury and he’s been really pushing the boundaries and trying to get that recovery as quick and smooth as possible,” the boss added.
“The reality is when he’s started to do some activities, he’s still feeling that he needs a little bit of time. Is it a matter of days? Hopefully yes, more than a matter of weeks. The moment he is ready, he will be thrown onto the field.
“The timescale that he had has been respected and it’s now more about his feelings, and when he actually demands he wants to be part of it.”
Mikel also gave some insight into how the team could line up with three of our forwards a doubt to play in west London.
“Eddie [Nketiah] is out as well, so we have Gabby [Jesus] out, Eddie out and Leo [Trossard] out,” Mikel added. ”We have to adapt at this period of the season.
“We can play with a winger more as a nine, or a false nine. We will see.”
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
