Mikel Arteta gave a couple of injury updates ahead of Arsenal’s match against Spurs this weekend, but he refused to give too much away.
Arsenal have a few injured attacking players who might possibly return to the squad this weekend, with Martin Odegaard, Viktor Gyokeres, Noni Madueke, and Gabriel Martinelli all on that list. Neither Kai Havertz nor Gabriel Jesus are expected to be available.
Speaking in his press conference on Friday, Mikel Arteta told the media that a lot of work has gone into trying to get players from the above group ready for action on Sunday.
“We put a lot of energy in the international break with the medical staff to try to bring them back as quickly as possible,” Arteta said. “Tomorrow we have another training session to see how they are feeling, if this game is too close or they can have a contribution in the game.”
Arteta suggested he was optimistic some of Arsenal’s injured players could return against Spurs, but when pressed for clarity on which ones, he responded: “I can [tell you] but I’m not going to do it.”
One of the other doubts is around Riccardo Calafiori, who was unavailable for Italy over the international break due to a hip issue.
Arteta explained that Calafiori has actually been carrying multiple issues, and he still hasn’t trained with the team. But they have another session to potentially get him ready.
“Yeah he (Calafiori) wasn’t available, he’s been carrying a few things and we had to bring him back,” Arteta said. “He hasn’t trained yet, we have a session tomorrow so we will see.”
As for Gabriel Magalhaes, there’s no chance the Brazilian will be involved with Arsenal this weekend, with Arteta confirming as much.
“Gabi unfortunately picked up an injury with the Brazilian national team and is going to be out for weeks,” Arteta added.
“We need to have another scan, I think it is next Wednesday. We will have a time that is much more clear than at the moment.
“It’s clearly a blow. It’s our leader in our backline. To miss him is never a positive thing. The good thing is we have some very good options. They need to stand up now.”