Mikel Arteta targets more silverware after extending his Arsenal contract until 2030
Arsenal Football Newsletter
The extended international break is now over and attentions are firmly on the Premier League’s return, with Arsenal and Leeds getting the action restarted.
Arsenal welcome Leeds to the Emirates Stadium for Saturday’s lunchtime offering, hoping to bounce back from defeat to Brighton nearly three weeks ago.
Leeds, meanwhile, are one of five teams to have made an unbeaten start to the Premier League season, and have the incentive of climbing above the Gunners in the table if they can secure a rare win in north London.
It remains to be seen what impact the three-week break will have on both teams, with Mikel Arteta - in particular - having little time with his players on the training pitch due to so many only returning from international duty this week.
From an Arsenal perspective, the good news is that Ben White, Piero Hincapie, Cristhian Mosquera and youngster Max Dowman have all been passed fit and, therefore available for selection.
As for Leeds, James Trafford and Dominic Calvert-Lewin have returned from England duty unscathed and ready to start at the Emirates.
However, there are still a number of injury doubts for both teams and those who have already been ruled out of the very first Premier League fixture following the autumn international break.
Here is the latest injury situation...
In terms of guaranteed absences, Arsenal will be without William Saliba (back) and Christos Tzolis (hamstring).
The could be joined on the sidelined against Leeds by Kai Havertz (hamstring) and Ezri Konsa (dead leg) as Arteta will make a late decision over the pair, while he is also hopeful Declan Rice will be available for selection after withdrawing from the England squad for their Nations League quadruple-header.
“We have to manage him because he's had a few issues since he's come back from the World Cup, and we know the amount of games he's played in the last three years,” Arteta said in the pre-match press conference.
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“It was the sensible thing to do, and hopefully tomorrow he's available but some others are in doubt.”
Doubt: Kai Havertz
Leeds boss Daniel Farke has revealed Daniel James returned from international duty with a back injury and is set to miss out against Arsenal, alongside Joe Rodon (thigh) and Mateo Joseph (ACL).
Summer signings Jean-Matteo Bahoya (ankle) and Harry Wilson (muscle), though, are in contention to feature having taken part in training.