Mikel Arteta is thrilled to have Gabriel Jesus return to training as our manager gave a fitness update on his whole squad ahead of our trip to Sunderland.
Gabi hasn’t featured for us since suffering a knee injury in our FA Cup clash against Manchester United in January – but after returning to training with his teammates, Mikel is hopeful of our Brazilian getting back to his best.
“I’m thrilled to have him,” Mikel said in his pre-match press conference. “I think he’s going to add something extra to the team that we don’t have, and make sure that very soon we see him on that pitch making an impact for the team.
“It’s about making the steps day-by-day in a different surrounding. He’s been doing everything on his own; now he’s got players around him, very competitive players around him, and let’s see how he copes with that. But he’s full of energy, I love the reaction of all his teammates when he first joined us and great to have him back.”
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Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Martinelli joined Noni Madueke, Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard as injury absentees for our 3-0 win over Slavia Prague in the week.
Mikel didn’t confirm that all five would remain out of our game against Sunderland. But when asked if the quintet would return after the international break, he said: “There are a lot of things that have to happen in the next two weeks and everything has to be perfect, but I think we’ll be very close with most of them to be in a really strong position.”
Kai is one of those looking to return to the first team. The German recovered from a hamstring injury suffered in February, only to pick up a knee injury against Manchester United in the opening day of the season.
Asked about managing Kai’s fitness, Mikel said: “Let’s see how he absorbs the load first when he starts to train with us and when he’s done that, obviously we’re going to have to be, especially in the first few weeks, keep an eye on him to manage the amount of minutes and when we play him.
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“But when you look at his record and what he’s done in his career, he’s played every single game, he’s almost never been injured and now he has this issue with his knee. But it will be resolved and hopefully he will be back to his best.”
In the absence of Viktor, Kai and Gabi, Mikel Merino has been deployed as a forward. Mikel showed his prowess up top in the week, netting twice in the Czech capital, something that our manager is grateful for.
He added: “He’s such an intelligent and competitive player that he can adapt to any position, because first of all, he’s so willing to do his very best, to understand what he needs to do.
“He’s always asking questions and he’s a winner. Wherever he plays, the only thing he wants is to win, to contribute to the team, and when you have that mindset, things normally go well for you.”
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