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The latest Arsenal team news including updates on Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and William Saliba
Arsenal returned to winning ways in the Premier League this weekend. They beat Nottingham Forest 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium as they bounced back from their loss to Liverpool before the international break in style. Martin Zubimendi scored twice against Ange Postecoglou’s side, whilst Viktor Gyokeres also got on the scoresheet.
Mikel Arteta’s men are back in action on Tuesday night. They face a Champions League away trip to play Athletic Bilbao. In the meantime, here is the look at the latest injury news....
Will Bukayo Saka be fit for Arsenal?
Arsenal remain without winger Bukayo Saka for the time being. The attacker was left out of England’s latest squad for their games against Andorra and Serbia. The Gunners won’t take any risks with him and will slowly ease him back into the fold, with a return later this month the most likely outcome.
Arteta has said: “Bukayo’s out, still out and he’s trying to get back as quick as possible, but we need to respect that process. He’s evolving really well, with very specific work at the moment, and the moment we increase that load, let’s see how he reacts.”
Elsewhere, William Saliba has returned to training and is close, whilst Ben White was on the bench against Nottingham Forest. Their head coach said: “Willy trained today (Friday) so we’ll have a decision to make whether we play him or not, very good news. The rest (trained) as usual, and Ben White as well, Ben’s OK.”
How is Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard?
Arsenal were forced to substitute Martin Odegaard against Nottingham Forest. He will now need to be assessed ahead of their clash against Athletic Bilbao. The Norway international landed awkwardly on his shoulder.
Arteta said afterwards: “I think it's the same shoulder that he [injured] last time. He was uncomfortable to continue. So, that's a shame. He played with the national team, he was feeling good, and suddenly something happened again."
On whether he will be fit on Tuesday, he replied: “He will certainly be doing everything from now on to be ready for today. I guarantee you that, but I don't know."
Arsenal attackers Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus are still in the treatment room. Havertz is making good progress on his road to recovery from his knee injury. Arteta has shared this update: “He’s looking really good, he’s walking freely.
“He’s starting to load the knee and to do some bits. As I said before, I think we’re taking it from weeks to months. But knowing Kai, I cannot give you any time scale because I know what he’s going to try to do, same with Gabi Jesus. So I think he’s in a good moment. It was a very tough decision for him to go and have that procedure done. But I think it was necessary and it was the right decision from the medical team to persuade him to do that.”
On Jesus, Arteta said: “He had a major surgery that it was going to take him many, many months. So, after discussing with the medical staff and understanding the schedule that we had and when we thought that he could be available, that it would be between December and January, we decided to make the call like we’ve done it in the past with other players. Hopefully we did it wrong and he comes back earlier. But at the moment, the provision was very clear.”
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