Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice are fit and available to face Brentford on Saturday.
Having both played huge parts in our 3-0 success over Real Madrid on Tuesday night, with Bukayo winning both the free-kicks that Declan scored from to put us two goals ahead, the England internationals were forced from the field prematurely after picking up knocks.
But in a relief to all Gooners everywhere, Mikel revealed that both have recovered well enough to be in contention to face the Bees in Premier League action this weekend, as we look to maintain the positivity in the camp from the incredible display in midweek.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Mikel said: “With Dec and Bukayo, they’re both fit. So it was just a matter of two kicks and they recovered well, so they are available for tomorrow.”
He also suggested that Riccardo Calafiori could be available again soon after the Italian international picked up a knee problem on international duty during the recent break, causing him to miss our matches against Fulham, Everton and Madrid.
“Ricky’s progressing really well,” Mikel added. “I think to give you a timeline is difficult because he needs to step up, especially having more people around and how he reacts after that. But he’s in a good place.”
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There was also an update on how Kai Havertz is doing following hamstring surgery in January. When it was pointed out to Mikel that Bukayo had returned after 104 days from a similar procedure, and it would be 108 days from Kai’s injury to the final day of the season, he was asked if there was a possibility the striker could still play some part this season.
Mikel suggested there could be, but it was still too early to tell how Kai’s rehab was going. However, the boss would love to see the German pull on our colours again before 2024/25 concludes.
“Every injury isn’t the same,” Mikel added. “The mindset of [Kai and Bukayo], though is very, very similar. They have a great injury history, great work ethic, are desperate to get back playing as quickly as possible, and we have great medical staff as well to look after them.
“Hopefully we can have him, but let’s wait. Once you get to the last stage of the rehab is when you can better understand how close or far away you are to making that next step.”
