Mikel Arteta wouldn’t give anything away about the fitness of his key players ahead of Arsenal’s match against Manchester United on Wednesday.
Mikel Arteta spoke to the media on Tuesday ahead of Arsenal’s match against Manchester United, but anyone hoping for an update on the likes of Gabriel Magalhaes and Mikel Merino was left disappointed.
When asked about Arsenal’s injury doubts, also including Riccardo Calafiori and Thomas Partey, Arteta responded: “We’re going to have a meeting this afternoon.
“We have done a training session, we have monitored and kept a few away from certain activities and after that meeting we will decide if everyone is fit and available and who will start.”
Merino and Partey were surprise absentees from Arsenal’s squad to face West Ham United at the weekend, with the club confirming that Merino has a knee injury and Partey has a muscular injury.
There haven’t been any further updates on either player, so at this stage we don’t know if they’re out for days, weeks, months, or whether they’re already back fit.
As for Gabriel and Calafiori, Arteta previously suggested that both players were withdrawn for largely precautionary reasons against West Ham, but he also confirmed that the defensive duo have been dealing with minor injuries.
With any luck, at least those two should be available for the Manchester United game on Wednesday.
Arsenal’s other injury doubt is young Myles Lewis-Skelly, who suffered an injury in training last week and missed the West Ham game. Again, it’s not yet clear how long he’ll be out.
On top of that, Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu are both set to miss Wednesday’s fixture through longer-term issues.