Arsenal boss provides team news update ahead of Leicester

Arsenal will be looking to build some momentum with another positive result when Leicester City head to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Ahead of the game, Mikel Arteta has been speaking to the media at his pre-match press conference this afternoon and he’s provided a team news and injury update which included the latest on the fitness of several players.

Let’s start with the bad news and unfortunately Arteta confirmed a fresh blow after revealing that Reiss Nelson is facing a spell on the sidelines. The winger suffered a muscle issue in training and after undergoing scans, Arteta says the doctors came back with ‘bad news’ so Nelson is set for some time on the treatment table.

The news is a blow for the 22-year-old attacker as he’s been hoping to kick-start his Arsenal career after returning to the club this summer following a loan spell with Feyenoord last season.

However, there was some positive news for Arsenal today as Arteta says Kieran Tierney is looking in ‘perfect condition’. The full-back came off the bench to play the final 20 minutes against Palace last weekend having recovered from a knock and is now pushing to start against Leicester.

Boost

Arteta also confirmed that Takehiro Tomiyasu, Emile Smith Rowe and Fabio Vieira all resumed full training this week after missing the win at Selhurst Park. ‘Some’ of them will be in the squad tomorrow, giving Arteta more quality options from the bench.

The Spaniard is quoted by Football London as saying today:

Arteta on Nelson
He felt something in training and the doctor came with bad news. Hopefully he will be back soon.

Arteta on Tierney
He played 15/20 mins last week and did really well. He looks in perfect condition now and ready to go

Arteta on Vieira, Tomiyasu and Smith Rowe
They’ve been reintegrated into training this week all of them. Some of them will be in the squad tomorrow.

Tomiyasu and Smith Rowe have both been on the comeback trail for a couple of weeks so they are expected to be back in the Arsenal squad to face Leicester tomorrow afternoon.

However, Vieira has only recently stepped-up his return to fitness after arriving from Porto this summer with a foot injury, so the attacking midfielder is expected to miss out this weekend.