Ahead of the north London derby, Mikel Arteta has given an update on a host of players’ availability, including skipper Martin Odegaard.
Our skipper was forced off with an ankle injury during Norway’s Nations League game against Austria on Monday, and has been being assessed by our medical staff upon his return to London.
That has put his participation at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in doubt, and Mikel offered this update when asked about it in his pre-match press conference, as he hopes to have his captain available as we aim to record a third-straight win at the home of our neighbours.
“We need some more tests so let’s see what happens in the next day or so,” he said. “Let’s see what happens, what the extent of the injury is and how quickly we can get him back. He’s super positive about everything. We know Martin - he wants to be there every single day but we have to wait and see.
“He's willing, there's no question about that. He wants to be present every game and obviously in a big game like this one, but we need to make sure that we know first of all how good he can be or not.
“Players with 48 hours to go are always available, but let's see what happens.”
With Declan Rice suspended following his red card against Brighton & Hove Albion last time out, our midfield options have been further impacted with new arrival Mikel Merino picking up a shoulder injury during his first week at the club.
That will see him remain out of action for a while, but Mikel was pleased to report that the Spanish international is on the mend and making the most of his time out to brush up on our playing style to aid a speedy transition into our first team upon his return.
“It's a slow process because it's a bone and it takes a while to heal,” Arteta added. “He is progressing well and is already doing some stuff. He is working extremely hard and we're using this time to make sure that he understands a lot of things that he has a lot of questions about, and when he’s back he’s ready to go and impact the team.
“It's very difficult to understand the healing of the bone. I think at the moment he doesn’t have a lot of symptoms so you can speed it up very quickly because he hasn't lost anything else but we have to wait and see.”
Riccardo Calafiori was also another player who suffered an issue representing his nation during the break, and Mikel admitted that he would also have to check on his progress after another day or so, but there was better news regarding Gabriel Jesus.
The Brazilian striker returned to training after missing the matches against Aston Villa and Brighton with a groin problem, and Mikel hopes that if all goes well between now and Sunday that the Brazilian striker could be back.
“Gabby was out there," he revealed. "He's got another session tomorrow and if everything goes well he will be ready to be selected in this squad which is great news for us.”
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