Leeds United manager Daniel Farke
Leeds United manager Daniel Farke
A midfielder who starts the last friendly of a camp and walks off under his own steam is the version clubs want back. A withdrawal on 79 minutes only matters if it is a knock.
Three games in a window is a full load. Unbeaten and uninjured is the useful half of that.
Visitors to north London next week will take any regular who has not been on a scan.
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Ao Tanaka has come through Japan’s international break without injury, a fitness boost for Leeds before the trip to Arsenal. The Yorkshire Evening Post says he started Thursday’s 0-0 draw with Ecuador in Yokohama, alongside Mainz’s Kaishu Sano, and was replaced on 79 minutes by Daizen Maeda. The change was not injury-related.
He had come off the bench in wins over Uruguay and Venezuela. Three appearances, one start, 138 minutes in all. Japan finished the window unbeaten. Chances were scarce against Ecuador. Tanaka kept the ball moving, clipped passes wide and tidied counters before the coaches changed both sides after the break.
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He had started Leeds’s last three Premier League matches before the camp. With more than a week before the journey to London, the expectation is a short rest and then a return to the XI. Arsenal are at home to Leeds on 10 October.
The contrast with the home side is the point of the note. Martin Ødegaard is a doubt for Norway after an ankle scan showed no major damage but left him out of training. Kai Havertz is back at London Colney with a suspected hamstring. William Saliba is targeting November. Gabriel and Bruno Guimarães have been on individual plans after Brazil’s 4-2 win over Australia, in which Guimarães scored and Gabriel played 90 minutes. Ezri Konsa was left out of England’s squad after a minor issue.
Tanaka does not fix Leeds’s season. He does arrive as a midfielder who has started recently, played a full friendly load and been withdrawn by choice. Daniel Farke can plan around him. Arteta is still waiting on scans and flight reports.
No quote has come from the player. The file is simple. One hundred and thirty-eight minutes, no injury, more than a week to recover, then the Emirates. For a side walking into a champion’s home game, an unscathed holding midfielder is the best news the break was going to offer.
Arsenal - John Mikel Obi
Arsenal - John Mikel Obi