Mikel Arteta believes Thomas Partey should start against Sheffield United for Arsenal on Monday. However, he will make a decision on other players such as Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu following Sunday’s practice. Arteta also discussed Gabriel Jesus and Tomiyasu’s difficulties. And he stated that Jurrien Timber, who hasn’t played in a long time, was training with the club on Wednesday.
Mikel Arteta gives fitness update
Mikel Arteta gave an update on his players’ fitness. Arsenal has been doing well lately, winning six games in a row and scoring lots of goals. But they’re still not at the top of the Premier League because teams like Manchester City and Liverpool are playing very well. If some important players return from injury, Arsenal might have a better chance of catching up with them.
Recently, Fabio Vieira and Gabriel Jesus have been back in the squad for matches, but they haven’t played yet because they’re still recovering from groin and knee injuries. Arsenal are glad that Jesus is back, and Arteta said he’s ready to start playing on Monday.
“He’s fit enough. How long he will last that’s very different. We didn’t want to take any risks. We need him fit and now we want to make sure we load him in the right way,” Arteta said.
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Mikel Arteta on Zinchenko, Tomiyasu and Timber being on the squad for the game against Sheffield United:
“It is possible. We have to see how they do on the training sessions on Saturday and Sunday.”
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Thomas Partey might also come back to play on Monday night along with the other recently returned players. He hasn’t played much since October because of muscle injuries. But after training with the rest of the team, Arteta said there’s a possibility he might finally make his comeback.
“Yeah Thomas had a session before the last game and now he’s done two or three consecutive sessions. He should be part of the squad on Monday,” he said.
Arteta also said how players returning from injury can be unpredictable.
“Yeah, that’s one thing. Then depth, because we don’t know what’s going to happen and we’re going to have a lot of games. So freshness, more competition within the squad and the capacity to change games when the scenario is on our side and when we are chasing games. It’s something that in this period is going to be critical,” he added.
