Mikel Arteta has given young guns Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli the green light to resume Arsenal ’s title assault on Boxing Day.
The table-topping Gunners return to Premier League action post-World Cup a week today with the visit of David Moyes’s struggling West Ham side. And even though they will only get back to training this week after their exploits in Qatar, Arteta is adamant both are fit and raring to go.
He said: “I don’t have any concerns. They have assessed really well and they will be training for us in the next few days so hopefully they will be ready. They came back [to the club] straight away into the rhythm, shape and mood of the team.
“We are waiting for them and they are desperate to be back as well. I’ve spoken to both of them — Gabi was here on Saturday: a big smile, big energy and ready to go again.
“It’s going to be a big boost for the team.”
Arteta’s side suffered a frustrating defeat in their final tune-up game before the domestic campaign gets back under way on Saturday when they were beaten by a young Juventus side.
Granit Xhaka’s own-goal in first-half stoppage-time was followed by a strike from Juve’s England Under-20 international Samuel Illing-Junior which deflected beyond Aaron Ramsdale off Rob Holding in time added on at the end of the game.
It was only a friendly, of course, and Arsenal were neither at full tilt nor had a full complement of players.
But, still, Gabriel Jesus’s absence was evident, and Arteta knows everyone, and not just captain Martin Odegaard, will have to step up in terms of leadership while he’s out.
Arteta added: "Martin’s doing what he needs to do in a really mature way and he has a really, really important role in the team. Obviously, the fact that Gabi is injured, we’re going to have to give an extra percentage but on every single player, let’s do it through the squad.”
Player welfare has been a huge topic already this season and with talks already about another winter World Cup, possibly as soon as 2030, it will be interesting to see how many go down with injury in the coming weeks.
Arteta said: “Hopefully there will be no concerns.
“This period we’re in, normally every season in the Premier League is extremely condensed, we play every three or four days, so players are used to it.
“It is a little bit different because they have been with their national teams and obviously they have been demanding different things to what we do, but hopefully we can control that in the right way.”
