Mikel Arteta is keeping his cards close to his chest on the team-news front, hinting that Arsenal could welcome back a few injured players for Sunday’s clash with Sp*rs, while confirming Riccardo Calafiori hasn’t trained since returning prematurely from Italy duty.
The hope was that the Interlull would clear the decks, but a setback for Kai Havertz – out since August after knee surgery – and a new injury for Gabriel Magalhaes, who faces up to two months out, means the treatment room remains crowded.
There’s optimism that Martin Odegaard will be available, but the situations of Noni Madueke, Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Martinelli are far less clear.
“I’m hopeful that we can make another step tomorrow, but with certainty, I cannot say,” said Arteta in his weekly press conference.
“I am [optimistic], but it’s the final stage, and now is when there’s contact around them, when they have to be pushing to do very unpredictable things that they haven’t done. I think they’re going to be with us soon. I don’t know if Sunday’s going to be too soon.”
And while Gabriel Jesus is back in full training, the fact he hasn’t featured in a behind-closed-doors friendly or with the under-23s suggests he’s still some way from true match sharpness.
“He’s very good, so he’s doing everything with the team at the moment for the last almost two weeks,” revealed Arteta.
“We’re going to give him some exposure as well internally with some games so he gets that fitness. But he looks really good in training and he’s going to be a big addition to the team.”
On losing Gabriel to injury, sustained during Brazil’s friendly win over Senegal at the Emirates last weekend, Arteta said: “Gabi, unfortunately, picked up an injury with the Brazil national team, and he’s going to be out for weeks. We need to have another scan next Wednesday, and we’ll have the timeline probably much clearer than we have at the moment.
As for how his team copes with such a talismanic presence, the boss continued: ” It’s clearly a blow because he’s our leader in our backline and, to me, it’s never a positive thing. The good thing is that we have very good options, and they need to stand up now and do the job.”
On Calafiori, he had this update. “He wasn’t available [for the international break], he’s been carrying a few things and we had to bring him back. He hasn’t trained yet. Tomorrow we have another training session and we’ll see how he is.
He added: “He’s been dealing with a little issue and he played, then we rested him and took that load because of that, and when he got into the last game and had to travel with the national team, they were very understanding of that issue, and that’s when they allowed him to come back.”
Even without a full squad, Arsenal should be confident. Mikel Arteta’s side are on a 14-game unbeaten streak, a run that stretches back to August, and haven’t lost to Sp*rs on home territory in the league since 2010.
At the same time, Manchester City do have an early opportunity to up the ante. Should Pep Guardiola’s side beat Newcastle at St James’ Park on Saturday evening, they will cut the Gunners’ lead at the top to one point.
