Mikel Arteta and Marco Silva have both issued several injury updates before the Premier League clash between Arsenal and Fulham
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has issued injury updates on Kai Havertz, Jurrien Timber and Martin Odegaard before the Premier League clash against Fulham. The Gunners captain was forced off in the Champions League semi-final first leg against Atletico Madrid.
When asked for a team news update, Arteta said: “Let’s see how everyone is tomorrow morning. We haven’t been able to train much so tomorrow we’ll have the final update. On Odegaard’s availability specifically, he replied: “Let’s see.”
With a Champions League semi-final second leg against Atletico Madrid to come next week, it seems likely that Odegaard will be saved for that.
However, there is a chance the 27-year-old could still feature at Emirates Stadium this Saturday but two players will definitely not feature. On Friday, Arteta said: “Kai [Havertz] and Jurrien [Timber] will be out.”
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There is hope that Mikel Merino will be able to play again this season but he is currently out after undergoing foot surgery in January with the Spain international recently revealing all on how his recovery is going.
He said on the Arsenal Vision Podcast: “It’s going great. Slowly, which is frustrating for a guy like me who wants to help my team every time.
“But it’s going great. It’s one of those injuries that are very special that you have to take care of them. I have to do the little steps first. If everything goes the right way, I’ll start jumping. Very, very happy with how the injury is going. Hopefully, soon, I’ll be progressing even more.”
As for Fulham, Marco Silva revealed a potentially big boost with Kenny Tete set to return after six weeks out. He said on Thursday: “Kenny, we will have to see how he reacts from the last two sessions. He can probably be involved in the game.”
However, he also admitted that former Arsenal star Alex Iwobi and Kevin will remain unavailable and they have been joined on the sidelines by Ryan Sessegnon after he was forced off last weekend against Aston Villa.
On the latter, Silva said: “It’s not good news about him… Sessegnon is going to be out of the next game, and probably the one after, and then we will have to assess him day by day.”
Antonee Robinson is expected to come into the starting XI for the ex-Tottenham star with one of Oscar Bobb or Samuel Chukwueze on the left in place of Iwobi.
Arteta is also facing a number of team selection dilemmas with their Champions League semi-final second leg against Atletico Madrid to come on Tuesday. Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze came off the bench in that clash but could both start in place of Odegaard and Noni Madueke.
There could also be changes in defence with Riccardo Calafiori, who is back available, or Myles Lewis-Skelly potentially coming in for Piero Hincapie.
On the opposite flank, Cristhian Mosquera could be picked ahead of Ben White after his tough evening in the Spanish capital earlier this week.
