Arsenal will look to continue their recent good form when they welcome Crystal Palace to the Emirates Stadium on Thursday night.
Ahead of the game, Mikel Arteta has been speaking to the media at his pre-match press conference today and he’s provided a team news and injury update which included the latest on Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel and Thomas Partey.
Martinelli was forced out of Saturday’s FA Cup victory over Newcastle United after picking up an ankle injury during the pre-match warm up. Arteta has confirmed the Brazilian attacker was left in a lot of pain and will undergo a scan today to determine the severity of the injury – although the Arsenal boss is hoping it’s nothing too serious.
Gabriel returned to full training on Friday after missing the last four matches following his positive Covid test but wasn’t deemed ready to feature against Newcastle. The centre-back will continue to be assessed over the coming days before a decision is made over his availability to face Palace on Thursday night.
However, there was positive news on Partey as Arteta is confident the midfielder will be back in contention later this week. Partey has been out for a month with a thigh injury but returned to full training last week and should be fit to take on Palace at the Emirates.
Arteta told Arsenal.com:
on Gabriel Martinelli…
We don’t know how bad he is. He’s getting a scan this morning. We didn’t look after the game because he was in a lot of pain but yesterday he tested it a little bit better, so let’s hope. We have a scan today so let’s hope it’s not as serious and we can have Gabi back really soon. We will know more tomorrow, certainly.on Gabriel and Thomas Partey…
Well, Gabriel had a training session the other day. He tested positive and had very mild symptoms, so he’s missed a few weeks of training because he had to be isolated. It’s better now and we expect him to be training with us in the next couple of days and then make an assessment on whether we can have him or not on Thursday. Thomas has been in full training for the last four or five days, he’s completely asymptomatic. It would be a little bit rushed to try and play him against Newcastle but I think he will be ready for Thursday.
Arsenal have no other injury concerns to worry about as they prepare to welcome the Eagles to north London on Thursday night off the back of four consecutive wins in all competitions.
Another victory against Palace would move the Gunners to within just three points of fourth-placed Tottenham so Arteta will be desperate to close the gap and maintain their momentum with a win on Thursday evening.
