Mikel Arteta is sweating on the fitness of a number of Arsenal players ahead of Bournemouth
Arsenal travel to Bournemouth on Saturday evening knowing a win will propel them above Manchester City and Liverpool to go top of the Premier League.
It will be quite the statement of intent from the Gunners if they were to claim all three points at the Vitality Stadium, with both Man City and the Reds playing on Sunday. Mikel Arteta has a number of injury concerns going into the clash, however, and a few players face late fitness tests ahead of the 5:30pm kick-off.
Bukayo Saka is one of those after picking up a muscular injury in England’s 2-1 defeat to Greece last week. Arteta is hopeful the 23-year-old will be fit enough to make the trip, though. “It’s not a serious injury,” Arteta told reporters on Friday morning.
“He’s evolving really well. He’s done a few things in the last few days when he came back from the national team after the second game. We are hopeful. We have a training session this afternoon and he did some bits yesterday, so let’s see if he can make it on time.”
A rather positive update from Arteta on Saka which, when combined with Lee Carsley’s comments claiming the Hale Ender “would have been close” for England’s trip to Finland on Sunday, perhaps bodes well for Saturday. Kai Havertz and Gabriel Martinelli are other concerns going into the game at Bournemouth although the German should be available against the Cherries.
“Yeah, he had a few issues and we’ve been dealing with that. He’s been absolutely brilliant,” Arteta said on Havertz. “He has very good communication with the national team and the manager. They understood the situation. We have modified everything that we could do here and if he trains well today he has a good chance to be fit and available.”
Martinelli, who picked up a calf issue while with Brazil, is a doubt for the game, however. “Gabi landed yesterday afternoon, so we’ve had a very short time to be with him,” Arteta said. “Yesterday [Thursday] he went outside to do a little bit and see how he’s feeling. Today will be another step to understand whether we want to take the risk if he’s fit. I know what the player is going to say ‘I’m going to be fit’.”
Arteta did confirm that club captain Martin Odegaard will definitely miss the game on Saturday as he continues to recover from a foot problem, while Ben White, Jurrien Timber and Oleksandr Zinchenko are all “quite close”. “Today we will have to push and see who is because we are stronger with the numbers, especially on our right side. Hopefully we have some positive news today and we’ll have some players back tomorrow,” Arteta said.
Thomas Partey is fit and will be in the matchday squad, however, and Kieran Tierney remains out. Neto, on loan from Bournemouth, is not eligible to face his parent club so Tommy Setford will likely come into the squad and act as cover for David Raya. Setford has been out with injury himself in recent weeks but resumed training this week.
Arteta also confirmed Takehiro Tomiyasu has sustained a fresh injury in what is a big blow ahead of a crucial run of games. “We don’t know that (how long he will be out for). It doesn’t look like, hopefully, a long period but we have to see when he comes back how he reacts to the load and to the impact on the pitch as well,” Arteta said. “But we really need him, he has been incredible, his work rate, the amount of hours he has put in to get back. He did it and he was in great shape – and now he has got something else again. But, we are all behind him. He needs our support and hopefully he will be fine.”
So, when taking in the above, it appears that Arsenal will definitely be without Odegaard, Tierney, Tomiyasu and Neto, while Martinelli is a huge doubt for the clash so that probably means Arteta will not be allowed to call upon at least five senior players on Saturday.
So, looking at the official Arsenal website, the Gunners have 17 fit and eligible senior players available for selection for the game vs Bournemouth. As per Premier League rules, a club is allowed to name a squad of 20 players for a Premier League match which means a few academy stars will need to step up.
As mentioned already, Setford will act as cover for Raya due to Neto being unavailable to face his parent club. Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly will likely be the other two youngsters named in the squad, with the pair now regularly training with the first team.
Possible Arsenal squad for Bournemouth: Raya, Setford; Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwior, Calafiori, White, Timber, Zinchenko; Partey, Rice, Merino, Lewis-Skelly, Jorginho, Nwaneri; Saka, Trossard, Sterling, Jesus, Havertz.
Senior players unavailable for Bournemouth: Odegaard (ankle injury), Tomiyasu (knee injury), Tierney (hamstring injury), Neto (ineligible), Martinelli (calf injury – doubt).