Gabriel Martinelli has given a hint at his potential involvement in Arsenal’s north London derby match against Spurs this weekend, as he pushes to return from injury.
With the north London derby coming up on Sunday, a number of Arsenal players still have fitness doubts hanging over them.
Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Magalhaes, and Kai Havertz will certainly be out of the match, but there’s also uncertainty surrounding Riccardo Calafiori, Martin Odegaard, Viktor Gyokeres, Noni Madueke, and Gabriel Martinelli.
Arsenal and Mikel Arteta haven’t provided many hints on a potential injury comeback for those five players, but all of them were involved in a pre-match video for social media, and Martinelli’s contribution was perhaps significant.
The Arsenal squad were asked to give one word to describe playing in the north London derby, and Martinelli responded with “ready”.
Arsenal fans will hope that’s true for Sunday’s game, as Martinelli’s injury comeback would certainly provide a boost to the team’s wide options.
As for the other four, Odegaard responded “red”, Gyokeres “exciting”, Madueke “hungry”, and Calafiori “emotional”. There isn’t much in the way of a fitness update from their responses, but the fact they were all in attendance for the training session is at least something.
Arteta wouldn’t be drawn on which members of that group might be fit for Spurs, telling his press conference: “I can [tell you], but I’m not going to do it.”
The Arsenal boss evidently wants to keep his opposite number guessing ahead of the derby game, and unfortunately that means keeping the supporters in the dark for the time being.