The international break provided us with a fortnight to try and get a number of our squad fit for tomorrow’s game against Nottingham Forest, and Mikel Arteta used his pre-match press conference to provide an update on eight players.
There was bad news in that Ben White is set for a stint on the sidelines after undergoing knee surgery, but Mikel was more upbeat about Leandro Trossard who was forced off in the first half of Belgium’s loss against Israel on Monday night.
Arteta on how long Ben White will injured for
“Trossard seems to be OK,” he said. “He trained this morning and seems to be feeling good. We will assess everything with the doctor right now, as he was able to be part of that session, so that’s good.”
Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice weren’t called up by England due to their respective injury concerns, and there was also good news when it came to the duo.
“They have had their first partial session today, so very good as well,” Mikel added. “I prefer it when players are in the routine, in the rhythm to play. They couldn’t do it because they were injured, so, we have tried to facilitate everything that we could for them to be in the best condition for tomorrow.”
Martin Odegaard missed Norway’s UEFA Nations League matches as well, which Mikel revealed was due to his all-action display against Chelsea in our last match. He courageously completed all 90 minutes in his first start since August, but that took its toll on our skipper.
“He played really well [against Chelsea] and that had consequences because after such a long time not playing he needed time to recover,” Mikel added. “The ankle reacted and other areas of the body with so much load going into it. It wasn’t ideal, but he’s been OK, the last day and a half he’s trained with the team and he’s feeling good, so that’s really positive.”
Watch every touch of Odegaard’s display at Chelsea
There was also news about four more full-backs. Mikel suggested that Jurrien Timber “is in a good place” after missing the Chelsea match, while Riccardo Calafiori is expected to be in the matchday squad ahead of Forest’s visit to Emirates Stadium.
Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu remain out, but the Scottish international has been taking his first steps back to full fitness after a hamstring injury picked up at Euro 2024.
“Ricci trained today, so his rehab is going really well,” the boss continued. “He was able to do certain things last week with the physios, and trained on the pitch this week with us and today, so he will be in the squad.
“Kieran – not yet. He had a couple of sessions with the team but is not ready yet to be with the team, and Tomiyasu is going to be out as well for a bit. He’s going to be away now for a few weeks for him to continue with his training and to change his environment a little bit because it’s been really tough for him as you can imagine.
“He’s one of the guys where the only thing he wants to do is to work 24 hours to get better and he feels terrible when he’s not fit, so it’s a real shame. We’re going to give him the best opportunity to try and unlock something to help him to have him back as quickly as possible, but I think we need to be patient.”
