Mikel Arteta
Mikel Arteta's side take on Manchester United on Wednesday
Mikel Arteta was keeping his cards close to his chest when asked for an injury update ahead of Arsenal's big Premier League clash with Manchester United on Wednesday night.
The Gunners saw Riccardo Calafiori and Gabriel limp off with knocks in Saturday evening's impressive 5-2 win away to West Ham, while Thomas Partey and Mikel Merino sat out that game with minor issues.
But asked on Tuesday for an update on their fitness ahead of a meeting with Ruben Amorim's side, coy Arteta said: "We're going to have a meeting this afternoon. We have done a training session. We monitor and keep some players away from certain activities. After that meeting we'll decide who is fit and available and who will start. They all want to play."
Full backs Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu remain long-term absentees with no fresh update on potential return dates.
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Arsenal go into the game on the back of three convincing wins since the international break. And having scored five goals in the past two, with a quintet of scorers against Ruben Amorim's former club Sporting Lisbon and a shambolic West Ham, the confidence is high at the Emirates.
They have also won six of their past seven games against United in north London across all competitions. But Arteta can see an immediate difference in United under Amorim.
He added: "Obviously you can see his fingerprints and what he wants to do straight away. He’s been clear. He's been very successful at Sporting, it was remarkable what he achieved there.
"Especially the way he did it and how his team was playing. He brings energy and ideas to a new club. That's always something positive. But we have to focus on what we have to do."
Mikel Arteta says Ruben Amorim has already left a mark on Manchester United.
Arteta arrived at Arsenal in similar circumstances to Amorim - midway through a season that hard started poorly. And the big lesson the Gunners boss took from it was simple: "How unpredictable this job is. I jumped in in the middle of the season in very special circumstances and then we got hit by Covid.
"You can plan whatever you want but football takes you in any direction you can never imagine and you have to deal with it. Take it as it comes, face it and go for it."
Arsenal and United were drawn together in the FA Cup third round too, with that fixture set to take place in early January. "That's the thing about draws, you can get anybody. It’s going to be a big match again," Arteta added. "At the end you have to be the big teams to won it. It is what it is, we accept it."
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