Mikel Arteta is hoping that his side can recover from a set of poorly timed illness concerns and injury setbacks as Arsenal prepare for a short trip to Fulham. The Gunners were in action in midweek against Sporting CP but were still without several key players.
An illness bug that has seemingly swept across the country kept out Martin Odegaard and Kieran Tierney for the Europa League last-16 first leg in Portugal. Meanwhile other short-term knocks have kept out a group of others looking for a swift return.
It comes at a bad time for Arteta, who is trying to balance his squad between a title race and going deep into Europe with the prospect of a first continental title. With one eye also on the return leg on Thursday, there are still plenty of concerns ahead of playing the Cottagers.
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Even the captain isn't a sure-fire to come back in with Arteta saying, "In other moments we had total control of the game and we lost a little bit of threat today, especially with the four players we are missing in our frontline (Odegaard, Jesus, Trossard and Nketiah)." He also added: "I hope so. Martin was feeling better, then became a little worse so we’ll see after training today.
"We will know more this afternoon, we haven’t trained yet. We have a few players in contention. This afternoon, hopefully, we’ll have a clear picture of who is available and who is not."
He also added, "I hope they do [train]. Martin was feeling better and then he became a little bit worse, but hopefully he is able to train today.”
Fans are also waiting on the potential return for Gabriel Jesus, who has returned to training and looked lively but didn't travel with his team to Portugal. "We will try not to rush him back, we will try to make a fair assessment between what he needs and when is comfortable and as well giving the team a boost that it’s going to need in the next few weeks for sure," Arteta explained.
"Everything is going well, he needs time as well to get himself that confidence and that physical state that is necessary to compete with a free mind and once he’s free to do that, we will throw him in." He has also added: "Well, it’s been a while. He had a bad injury and he’s been pushing the boundaries and trying to get the recovery as soon as possible.
“But the reality is when he’s started to do some activities, he’s feeling he needs a bit more time. Is that a matter of days? Hopefully yes, more than a matter of weeks! He needs to feel confident, and comfortable and ready for it – especially the way he plays. We need him at his best, so the moment he’s ready he’ll be thrown on the field.”
It's in the forward line that things are the worst with Leandro Trossard also struggling after going off against Bournemouth last week. He wasn't in training ahead of the weekend either with Arteta saying, "It is a worry, he came to me straight away and said he couldn't continue, he'd felt something when he was tracking back, so we had to take him off". We'll assess him and see how he is."
He has since confirmed Trossard's absence, saying: "We have Gabby out, Eddie [Nketiah] out and Leo [Trossard] out." Before that, the last that was said on Nketiah was: "We are assessing him. It's a bit uncertain what will happen with him to be honest in the training sessions.
"Let’s see, let’s keep the options open. He’s very positive about it and hopefully he’ll be fine." That now seems to be a big doubt for the game at Craven Cottage. Tierney is another in the uncertain camp. He left training early with illness last week. "Let’s see how they (Tierney, Leandro Trossard and Eddie Nketiah) evolve," Arteta said.
"Obviously we’ve had a few issues in the last few days and I am trying to accommodate everybody and get everyone in the best possible condition for tomorrow."
Mohamed Elneny is still out with a long-term injury.
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