Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta offered a cautiously positive update after Kai Havertz and Eberechi Eze picked up problems during Saturday\u2019s Premier League win over Newcastle United.<\/p>\n
Arteta played down the severity of both issues at the Emirates, saying the injuries were not believed to be serious and that the pair \u201ccould yet feature when Arsenal play the first leg of their Champions League semifinal against Atl\u00e9tico Madrid in the Spanish capital.\u201d He told reporters: \u201cThey are muscular niggles, we don\u2019t think it\u2019s too much. We have to wait and see if they\u2019re going to be available for Wednesday,\u201d<\/p>\n
Havertz left the field early after pulling up in the first half and walked straight down the tunnel. Eze required on-pitch treatment before taking a seat on the bench. After the game the match-winner told Sky Sports: \u201cI\u2019m alright. I\u2019m all good, it was just a precaution. I didn\u2019t want to do anything [more severe], I\u2019ll be O.K.\u201d<\/p>\n
The optimism is tempered by recent history. Just last month, Eze dismissed concerns over any injury before being forced to sit out three games, including the Carabao Cup final, with a calf problem. Any absence for either player would harm Arsenal\u2019s chances of ending a 22-year wait for a Premier League title and their bid to reach and win their first Champions League.<\/p>\n
Viktor Gy\u00f6keres remained on the bench behind Havertz for a second successive match as Arteta persisted with the German as his centre forward. Gy\u00f6keres, signed so Havertz could occupy a deeper role, has struggled for impact against weaker opposition and is yet to score a non-penalty goal against any of the Premier League\u2019s current top 10. Arteta picked Havertz as his No. 9 a week ago against Manchester City and again for the visit of Newcastle, with Gy\u00f6keres introduced only when the German could not continue.<\/p>\n
The jury is still out on Eze following last summer\u2019s $90 million (\u00a367.5 million) transfer from Crystal Palace. He has scored five of his seven Premier League goals this season in just two matches against Tottenham Hotspur\u2014and only two against anyone else.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arteta: Havertz and Eze have muscular niggles but could be fit for Atletico first leg. Squad updates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,1303],"tags":[1312,1359,1569],"class_list":["post-13054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-arsenal-news","tag-arsenal-fitness","tag-arsenal-injury","tag-arsenal-injury-update"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}