Arsenal forward faces a late fitness test ahead of the Liverpool game.
Mikel Arteta, Head coach of Arsenal looks on.
Mikel Arteta, Head coach of Arsenal looks on.
Arsenal travel to Anfield on Sunday for a blockbuster Premier League clash with Liverpool, with Mikel Arteta confirming that Riccardo Calafiori, Declan Rice and Christos Tzolis have all returned to training.
The Gunners head into the fixture on the back of a disappointing Carabao Cup fourth-round defeat to League Two side Fleetwood Town on Tuesday.
Youngster Max Dowman was sent off during the match and will miss this weekend’s trip to Merseyside as Arsenal look to secure their first away league win against Liverpool since September 2012.
Arsenal were without Calafiori, Rice, Tzolis, Noni Madueke, Bukayo Saka and William Saliba for the midweek penalty shoot-out defeat in the northwest. However, more than half of those players could now return to the matchday squad this weekend.
Noni Madueke has featured regularly on the right wing this season. The England international missed Tuesday’s trip to Fleetwood, but remains a doubt for Sunday’s clash.
“We don’t know yet,” Arteta said at the Sobha Realty Training Centre on Friday afternoon, “we’ll have a training session tomorrow. “[We’ll] see if he can complete that full session tomorrow and as I said, I will know whether he’s available or not.”
Noni Madueke has racked up 10 appearances, scored twice and provided one assist for Arsenal across all competitions this season.
Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola has, meanwhile, suggested that Dominik Szoboszlai and Victor Munoz could feature against Arsenal, with both players facing late fitness tests ahead of Sunday’s clash.
The pair have been sidelined since suffering injuries against Brentford earlier this month, forcing Iraola to rotate his options during a busy fixture period. However, there is hope that both could return in some capacity against the Gunners.
Unlike Arsenal, Liverpool progressed to the Carabao Cup quarter-finals in midweek, beating Chelsea on penalties after a 1-1 draw at Anfield. The Reds will now host Iraola’s former club, Bournemouth, in the quarter-finals
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