Mikel Arteta offered a clear update on Arsenal\u2019s injury picture after the recent match in which Cristhian Mosquera and Piero Hincapi\u00e9 started together for the first time. The manager said William Saliba is close to returning, while Gabriel will require a longer layoff.<\/p>\n
There were no major concerns over Mosquera and Hincapi\u00e9\u2019s display, but the pair conceded a total of 11 shots to Chelsea \u2014 only the fifth time across all competitions this season that Arsenal have allowed that many shots on goal. Arsenal are back in action on Wednesday with a visit from Brentford, and it remains uncertain whether Mosquera and Hincapi\u00e9 will be paired again or whether Saliba will be available.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah [Saliba had tests], he had a niggle but I think it\u2019s going to be a matter of days,\u201d Arteta predicted. \u201cSo let\u2019s see if he’s able to do that tomorrow. So a matter of days for William.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Saliba does not return on Wednesday, the weekend meeting with Aston Villa could be a realistic target, though any comeback is expected to be without his usual partner Gabriel. \u201cGabi\u2019s doing very well as well but that\u2019s weeks [rather than days],\u201d Arteta explained.<\/p>\n
The manager also addressed the longer-running issue of Kai Havertz\u2019s knee problem, a setback that Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann revealed during the November break had pushed back the midfielder\u2019s return date. Arteta confirmed the difficulties the player has faced and expressed how much the squad have missed him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, so he was doing everything. He could not go to the next level and now it\u2019s looking like we have unlocked that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all desperate to have him. I mean, it\u2019s a player that, personally, I love so much for what he brings to the team, but his character, his personality, I see him suffer being outside. His playing record is phenomenal, he\u2019s been always available and I can\u2019t wait to have him back around the team playing because I think it\u2019s going to be a massive boost for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arteta estimated Havertz\u2019s return as \u201ca matter of weeks\u201d but indicated supporters should wait only \u201cdays\u201d for another glimpse of Leandro Trossard, who missed the Chelsea game with an ankle problem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Saliba close to return while Gabriel faces weeks out; Havertz also a matter of weeks. Fans awaiting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4840,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,172],"tags":[947,199],"class_list":["post-4841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-epl","tag-ankle-injury","tag-cristhian-mosquera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4841","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=4841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}