Mikel Arteta says he is hopeful that Martin Odegaard, Noni Madueke and Kai Havertz could return from injury in time to face Tottenham Hotspur in the north London derby on November 23, providing the Arsenal squad with a “huge boost”.
Speaking at his press conference ahead of Arsenal’s trip to Burnley on Saturday, Arteta said: “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 and those players again, after such a long, long time, so really happy that I think it’s going to be very soon.”
Havertz underwent surgery for a knee injury in August, while Madueke went off injured against Manchester City in September.
Club captain Odegaard suffered a medial collateral ligament injury against West Ham in early October. Arteta declined to be more specific in terms of individual timelines, but believes the trio are all edging closer to a return. Arsenal are also hopeful that Gabriel Jesus will not be too far behind.
“I would say weeks, and some of them pretty soon, hopefully, if they keep evolving the way they are doing,” Arteta added.
“It’s difficult to put a game, you know — 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 or some of them, but we’ll be quite close by then.”
There was less positive news on Gabriel Martinelli, who has been ruled out of the trip to Burnley. “This game is going to come too early,” confirmed Arteta.
William Saliba, who missed the midweek Carabao Cup tie against Brighton & Hove Albion, could be in contention for a place. “We have to wait and see,” Arteta said.
Arteta is anticipating a tough test for the Premier League leaders at Turf Moor.
“The game against Burnley is going to be really tough,” the Arsenal manager warned. “They are extremely well-coached, and Scott (Parker) has done really well with the club and with this team. It’s formidable and when you look at all the games, five of the last games that they played, they showed they are a very, very tough team to beat.”
Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Brighton on Wednesday set up a Carabao Cup quarter-final against Crystal Palace – but the tie is facing severe scheduling issues due to Palace’s participation in the Conference League.
Arsenal’s preference is to play the tie, as scheduled, on Tuesday, December 16, which would leave Palace facing four games in eight days but Christmas Eve is another option.
The English Football League (EFL), which runs the Carabao Cup, is in conversation with all relevant stakeholders, including both clubs, over the scheduling of the tie.
“Every decision that we make in terms of a fixture has to be guided on two main things: players’ welfare and then supporters,” said Arteta. “That’s it. And the rest has to come very, very far away from that. And we should never forget that principle. That’s the only thing I would say.”