Injury boost for Gunners ahead of Premier League clash

Mikel Arteta delivered some good news for Arsenal fans on Friday as he revealed several players on the injury list were making significant progress.

Speaking ahead of the visit of Leicester City to the Emirates on Saturday, the manager offered updates on Takehiro Tomiyasu, Mikel Merino, Miles Lewis Skelly, Jurrien Timber, Ben White and David Raya. Here’s what he had to say:

On Merino:

“Tomorrow is too soon, the next week we will see,. He had partial training today, he’s been working so hard and is looking good. It is just about the healing of that bone and how mature that is to expose him to contact.

“We’re trying to keep him in the cage because he’s been pushing everybody, the physios, doctors, everybody! And he’s ready to go, he really wants it. I think we are comfortable now to start exposing him to contact and he looked really good in training.”

On Raya:

“We have to wait 24 hours to see if he’s looking good or not that good. It’s not about taking a risk, it’s about a player being fit and available or not. When we have that clarity for Leicester, which is the main thing that we are thinking about at the moment, we will make a decision tomorrow.”

On Jurrien Timber and Ben White:

“Jurrien was able to take part in training today so that’s that’s good news. He will be available in the squad, and Ben hopefully as well.”

On Tomiyasu:

“He had partial training today and he looked good. He’s progressing really well and is a little bit behind Mikel, but we don’t know with Tomi because he’s another one that pushes every single day. He’s in a good place now I think.”

On Lewis Skelly:

“He’s fine. He was cramping, but he has no issues.”

Though there was no update on captain Martin Odegaard’s availability, it looks like the squad is in a better place this week and could be returning to (almost) full strength in the new few weeks. A timely boost.