Arsenal visit Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League on Wednesday night, and manager Mikel Arteta has provided an injury update on several crucial players ahead of the clash.
The Gunners narrowly edged past Chelsea in their last fixture, courtesy of set-piece goals from William Saliba and Jurrien Timber. With Manchester City overcoming Leeds United on the same weekend, Arsenal’s lead at the summit of the English top flight remains at five points.
A mid-table Brighton side are up next for the North Londoners, and Arteta’s men should be confident of securing all three points on the south coast, despite Fabian Hurzuler’s side returning to form in recent matches.
Mikel Arteta issues injury updates on Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard
Aside from Mikel Merino, who is out for the season, Arsenal’s squad is relatively healthy at the moment. That said, several players are suffering from recurring injury issues, and the Gunners may actually be somewhat stretched when they visit the Amex.
Declan Rice was forced off the pitch with a thigh issue at the Emirates against Chelsea, and was replaced by Christian Norgaard with 15 minutes left to play. Given how rarely the England international is substituted by Arteta, this raised alarm bells for Gunners supporters.
Meanwhile, Martin Odegaard missed the encounter with Chelsea entirely and has been in and out of the side throughout the season. The Norwegian continues to struggle with a knee injury, although it is understood that his absence from Arsenal’s squad on Sunday was somewhat precautionary.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday afternoon, Arteta provided an update on both players.
“Martin is the other one, we’ll see,” he said.
“The rest are okay. [Rice] I hope so, he was much better today.”
A typically coy response from Arteta – it wouldn’t be a surprise to see both players involved come Sunday.
Injury updates on David Raya and Ben White
David Raya was outstanding in Arsenal’s win over Chelsea, although the Spaniard did sustain a knock towards the end of the game. In the dying embers as Liam Rosenior’s side pushed for an equaliser, the shot-stopper suffered a ‘niggle’ which Arteta couldn’t identify in his post-match press conference.
The manager has now confirmed that Raya will be available for Wednesday’s game in East Sussex.
“David is good, good to go,” he said on Tuesday.
Elsewhere, Ben White’s fitness remains doubtful. The right-back is another player, like Odegaard, who has struggled to build momentum and garner a regular run of games due to injury problems.
Speaking on White on Tuesday, Arteta said: “And Ben, yes Ben is not available.”
He added on Kai Havertz: “Yeah, especially Kai, he’s done a part of the session, so we’ll wait and see if he is okay.”
