Arsenal duo Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Martinelli are both set to miss this weekend’s game away to Sunderland, but they could be back in time for the north London derby.
James McNicholas reports for The Athletic that Arsenal are hoping to have both Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Martinelli back from injury in time for the game against Tottenham Hotspur after the November internationals.
Both players have remained in London this midweek, with Arsenal travelling to Prague for their Champions League match on Tuesday. But the pair are now working towards comebacks after the November internationals.
McNicholas does add that Gyokeres is undergoing further assessment on his muscle injury, so there are no guarantees he’ll return in time for Spurs. But that’s evidently the target right now.
The update could be taken as either a positive or a negative, depending on your perspective.
On the one hand, the fact neither player will be involved in the two remaining matches this week is certainly a bad thing. Mikel Arteta is going to have to call upon Mikel Merino and perhaps Andre Harriman-Annous to play at centre-forward in the meantime.
But on the other hand, given the uncertainty around both injuries, it’s encouraging that there’s even a chance the duo could be back after the international break.
Arsenal are also hoping to have at least one or two of Kai Havertz, Martin Odegaard, and Noni Madueke back after the internationals, so the squad could start to look a lot stronger at that point if all goes well.
That’s going to be necessary if Arsenal want to keep picking up results, with matches against Spurs, Bayern, and Chelsea in the space of a week between November 23rd and 30th.