Ahead of our trip to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea on Sunday, November 30, Mikel Arteta provided an update on the fitness of several first team players.
The boss first discussed Leandro Trossard, who was forced off in the first half of Wednesday’s 3-1 victory over Bayern Munich.
“Yeah, with Leo there’s another test today, we have to see how he’s feeling,” the boss said at the Sobha Realty Training Centre on Friday.
“It doesn’t look much, so we still have a few hours and we’ll have to see, it’s a potential chance (that he will be available).”
While Leandro has avoided a serious injury, Mikel confirmed that Gabriel will spend a spell on the sidelines, but the boss is backing our central defender to make a speedy recovery.
“I think he’s evolving really, really well. We have to wait for the scan a little bit longer to be more precise in terms of the timings.
“I’m quite confident, especially the way Gabi takes every injury and the way he’s going to push everybody that it’s not going to be that long.”
Another of our Brazilian stars made an important step in their recovery this week as Gabriel Jesus featured in a behind closed doors friendly on Thursday.
While Mikel is keen to have our no.9 back in the squad, he also wants to avoid any setbacks for Gabi.
“We have to see, obviously he’s been out 11 months and you need that progression, you need to see how his body reacts and what else he needs.
“The players that we have available as well, it has to make sense to have the right balance in the squad, so it’s a good thing. He’s very, very close at the moment.”
Finally, the boss was asked about repeat scans for Viktor Gyokeres and Kai Havertz, and when the strikers might be able to return to action.
“Not yet, but they are getting closer and closer, so we are very positive with both of them. The good thing is that now we find another option.
“We lost a player, two or three, we lost at some point six players in the front line, and the team continued to win and be very, very efficient, so I think that’s very positive.”
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