Mikel Arteta has given an injury update on Viktor Gyokeres, Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz ahead of our clash against Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League.
Viktor hasn’t featured since our 2-0 victory over Burnley, with Kai missing first team action since his substitute appearance against Manchester United in August.
Ahead of facing the German champions at Emirates Stadium, our manager gave a positive update on their recoveries.
Speaking about their rehabilitation, Mikel said: “Really good, both of them. In the next few days, they’re going to have a repeat scan to see how everything is and where we can push them for the weekend.”
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Gabriel Martinelli and Noni Madueke both returned for the matchday squad in our 4-1 win over Tottenham, with Noni coming on for Leandro Trossard.
Both have been in training with the first team ahead of the big clash at Emirates Stadium, and Mikel also revealed that our captain, Martin Odegaard, is hopeful of being included.
He said: “They [Martinelli and Madueke] are [available], and we’re going to have a meeting now, to decide on Martin [Odegaard]. He was very close for the previous game, so we are hopeful that tomorrow he can be in the squad as well.”
With a host of players returning to first-team training in recent weeks, Mikel was asked about how he reintegrates his stars back into competitive action.
He said: “Well, we have to look at the individuals and make sure that they are ready, if it’s to start a game like this, and the second one, for how long they can play.
“We need to be very mindful as well of how many of those players we put on the pitch because most of them are not going to be able to finish 90 minutes. So we need to be conscious about the subs that we need to use, how we’re going to use them, and the windows that we have.
“In order to be very efficient with our decision-making throughout the game and we’ll plan in regard to that.”
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