Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber are out of Saturday’s match between Arsenal and Fulham and Martin Odegaard is a doubt, but Havertz is pushing to be back against Atletico Madrid.
Arsenal face Fulham in a big Premier League match on Saturday afternoon, with the Gunners looking to go six points clear at the top of the Premier League table before Manchester City play their games in hand.
Ahead of the game, there are a few injury concerns for Mikel Arteta to worry about. Mikel Merino is out of the game, and Martin Odegaard’s status is unclear, after he was withdrawn earlier than planned in Wednesday’s game against Atletico Madrid.
On Odegaard, Arteta told Friday’s press conference “let’s see”, refusing to elaborate on whether the midfielder might be available. But he did confirm that both Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber will be out.
“Yeah Kai [Havertz] and Jurrien [Timber] will be out,” Arteta said. “[Havertz] has been a huge miss – we’re talking about one of the most important attacking players we have, and he’s been out for seven or eight months.
“Unfortunately, he’s not been the only one with long-term injuries and players have been missed. The team has shown an incredible capacity to overcome these kinds of scenarios and still be very, very competitive.
“The focus right now has to be on availability and performance, and Kai is desperate to be on the pitch as quickly as possible.
“Hopefully for Atletico he will be available, and he’s pushing every boundary to achieve that.”
As for the rest of the squad, Arteta didn’t seem to think there are any new injuries to worry about after the Atletico Champions League semi-final first leg.
“I think [everyone else is fine], so let’s see how everybody is tomorrow morning,” Arteta said. “Obviously, we haven’t been able to train much, so tomorrow we’ll have the final update.”
If Odegaard has avoided injury and Havertz could be back in time for the second leg on Tuesday, that would put Arsenal in a great position ahead of the final few weeks of the season.
But for Fulham, the Gunners will have to do without Havertz, Timber, and Merino.