Mikel Arteta has provided an update on the fitness of our first-team squad ahead of our trip to Burnley, with Gabriel Martinelli and William Saliba likely to miss out on the clash at Turf Moor.
Both players picked up injuries in last Sunday’s 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace and are unlikely to feature this weekend.
“Martinelli is still out, Saliba we have to wait and see,” the boss said at the Sobha Realty Training Centre on Friday. “We have another training session this afternoon and the rest are still getting closer, I think in the right direction, but not available yet.”
After Gabi missed Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Brighton, Mikel was asked about a timeline for his potential return. “We don’t know yet, but I think this game is going to come too early for him,” he added.
The boss also discussed long-term absentees Kai Havertz, Noni Madueke, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Jesus, and when we might see them return to action, and Mikel was optimistic he may have some fresh faces to select from in the near future.
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“I would say weeks and some of them pretty soon hopefully if they keep evolving the way they are doing,” he added. “It’s difficult to put a game, you know that we have the international break, which is a two-week break there, and after that I think we’ll have some back.
“I don’t know if it’s going to be all of them, some of them, but we’ll be quite close by then.”
If any of our injured players were to return after the international break, they could be in line to make their return in the first north London Derby of the season, a prospect Mikel welcomed.
“I’m excited because they are tremendous players. I see them work every single day, how desperate they are to be part of the team, the huge boost that is going to be for the squad to have those players again after such a long, long time. I’m really happy that I think it’s going to be very soon.”
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