Serie A frontrunners Napoli "will" try to sign a "sneakily good" Arsenal player in January, despite doubts over the transfer from manager Antonio Conte.
Arsenal prepare for West Ham clash in the Premier League on Saturday
Mikel Arteta's side have enjoyed an excellent return to action this week, convincingly beating surprise package Nottingham Forest 3-0 in the Premier League last weekend before smashing Sporting Lisbon 5-1 in Europe.
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He could be a hugely popular addition.
West Ham await Arsenal at the London Stadium on Saturday afternoon, and it is a clash which many would fancy the Gunners to win comfortably, considering Julen Lopetegui's side are seriously struggling for form overall.
However, they did beat Newcastle United 2-0 away in their last game, so the home side's tails may also be up as they aim to upset the applecart and put another dent in Arsenal's hopes of winning a first league title in 21 years.
Arsenal's next five Premier League games Date
West Ham United (away) November 30
Man United (home) December 4
Fulham (away) December 8
Everton (home) December 14
Crystal Palace (away) December 21
Arsenal could also be without star defender Gabriel Magalhaes, who is a doubt for the clash after picking up a knock against Sporting. Meanwhile, injured Takehiro Tomiyasu is recovering away from Arsenal and Ben White looks set to be out until next year.
"There was a big difference between the end of last season and the previous one - availability," said Arteta on Arsenal's injury problems this season.
Takehiro-Tomiyasu-Arsenal
"You can tell that. We do research, not only when we have injuries but when we don’t as well because people tend to look deeper at things when there’s a problem, not when everything is going very good. Dig in there because maybe you are doing things that are actually impacting what is happening. We’ve done a lot. Not changing much, it’s true that certain players come from a position where they’ve played over 130 games in two seasons, but a lot of things have been impacts on joints, which are not related to muscle injuries which you can treat more. It’s more difficult to control, I think."
If Gabriel is sidelined for their trip across London to West Ham, it is likely Jakub Kiwior will step into partner William Saliba at the heart of Arteta's defence.
Napoli will try to sign Jakub Kiwior from Arsenal in January
Reports in the last few days have suggested that Arsenal are no longer open to the possibility of Kiwior leaving on loan, but Sky Sports reporter Gianluca Di Marzio has some further information to the contrary.
Kiwior-Trent-Alexander-Arnold-Arsenal
According to his sources, Napoli will try to sign Kiwior on loan from Arsenal, and the Gunners are "open" to it. However, it is also believed that Conte is wondering whether the "sneakily good" Poland international is good enough to come in and reinforce the Serie A leaders' backline.
"Napoli have asked about Kiwior's situation and now Arsenal are open to loaning him," said Di Marzio to Goal.pl.
"Antonio Conte is wondering if he is good enough to play for Napoli because he is not playing for Arsenal, but they will definitely ask and try to loan him. Now is the time for him to go back to Italy because he has to play."