Mikel Arteta has given the latest on Riccardo Calafiori, Piero Hincapie, and Kai Havertz ahead of Arsenal’s match against Manchester United on Sunday.
The good news from Friday’s Arsenal training session was that Riccardo Calafiori and Piero Hincapie were both involved again after injury, suggesting they’re not far off making their comebacks.
Calafiori has missed the Gunners’ last eight games, whilst Hincapie has missed four, so it will be a boost to get them both back. But Mikel Arteta suggested they’ll need further assessment on Saturday to determine whether they can feature in the squad this weekend at home to Manchester United.
“We still have another training session, so we’ll see tomorrow (Saturday),” Arteta said. “After that, to assess everybody and make a decision, first of all, in the squad.”
Another piece of good news was Arteta’s confirmation that “after Inter, we had no issues reported”. As a result, Max Dowman is the only player definitely unavailable this weekend.
There have also been rumours in the media that Kai Havertz is not fully fit after his long spell on the sidelines. But Arteta denied that Havertz would find it difficult to trust his body at this stage.
“I don’t think [it’s difficult for Havertz to trust his body] because he’s a player that has an unbelievable track record,” Arteta insisted. “What happened, okay, it happened and you have to go through that in your career at least once.
“He’s gone through that period that has enabled him as well to learn more about the game, about his body and probably about how much he loves playing and how difficult it is in life when football is not a big part of that.
“He looks really, really hungry and I’m sure we’re going to see a very good version of Kai.”
Arteta did at least concede that Arsenal will need to be careful with the forward, but he added that they’ll be giving him minutes when possible.
“He is very close,” Arteta explained. “Obviously, he has been out for a long time, almost a year, for different reasons, and now we have to be very smart in the manner that we manage that load, the minutes, and I am sure that in the next few weeks, he is going to play in minutes.
“I cannot tell you which competition because that will depend as well on the game context, and it is a context that is positive to throw him in or not, with his qualities.
“After a long-term injury it is not only the period that you come in, it is what happens in the next six to eight weeks, and we want to maintain that and manage that really well so that we can creep it up, as you said, when all the big, big games are coming up.”
Those big games are certainly on the way, with the United game on Sunday followed by the League Cup semi-final second leg and the north London derby over the next month. Havertz will hope to be ready when needed.