Arsenal was sweating over the fitness of David Raya and other members of the squad after a grueling draw against Manchester City last weekend took its toll on a considerable chunk of the squad.
Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori seemed to have picked up knocks on the evening, but seeing Calafiori play close to 70 minutes in the 5-1 decimation of Bolton. Ben White was already an injury doubt prior to the game and if you recall, he was on the bench against Manchester City and had to come into the fray as part of the defensive tactical setup.
With Arsenal set to play Leicester City tomorrow, Arteta was required to provide some updates in his pre-match press conference.
Mikel Arteta’s updates on player injuries
On Mikel Merino,
“Tomorrow is too soon, the next week we will see. He had partial training today, he’s been working so hard and is looking good. It is just about the healing of that bone and how mature that is to expose him to contact.”
“We’re trying to keep him in the cage because he’s been pushing everybody, the physios, doctors, everybody! And he’s ready to go, he really wants it. I think we are comfortable now to start exposing him to contact and he looked really good in training.”
Arsenal fans are eagerly anticipating the debut of Merino, and it’s good to know that he’s so close to team selection because Arsenal are desperately short of options in the middle of the park. At the time of this article, Arsenal’s senior central midfielders are Thomas Partey, Jorginho, Declan Rice and Kai Havertz. Yes, Ethan Nwaneri had a stormer against Bolton, but the onus will be on Arteta to confirm if he’s ready for the big push.
On David Raya,
“We have to wait 24 hours to see if he’s looking good or not that good. “It’s not about taking a risk, it’s about a player being fit and available or not. When we have that clarity for Leicester, which is the main thing that we are thinking about at the moment, we will make a decision tomorrow.”
This was rather cryptic from the gaffer and knowing Arteta, it’s fair to assume that Raya might be fit to start against Leicester. However, Arsenal can fall back on Neto Murara, an experienced goalie that can certainly do a good job for us against Leicester. There is also the all-important Champions League clash against Paris St. Germain in midweek, so we will need to ascertain the risk of starting Raya with the hope he doesn’t aggravate the muscular injury.
On Ben White and Jurrien Timber,
“Jurrien was able to take part in training today so that’s that’s good news. He will be available in the squad, and Ben hopefully as well.”
This is pretty much straightforward and we will be looking forward to seeing these lads in action. Calafiori will be knocking on the door following his impressive performance against Manchester City, so the selection headache belongs to Arteta.
