Mikel Arteta has admitted he could be without several key players for Arsenal’s match against Manchester United on Sunday.
After failing to sign a Douglas Luiz from fellow Premier League outfit Aston Villa on deadline day, the frustration of the club’s faithful was pretty evident on social media handles.
Now, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta’s has confirmed more bad news with Aaron Ramsdale, Martin Odegaard, and Oleksandr Zinchenko all doubtful for the Sunday afternoon’s fixture against one of their biggest rivals, Man United.
After signing for the club last season, Ramsdale and Odegaard have established themselves as influential pieces in Arteta’s first team. However, the Gunners’ No.1 tweaked a hamstring issue on Wednesday night while Odegaard was forced off against Aston Villa with a foot problem. Both will need to be assessed ahead of the trip to Old Trafford.
Zinchenko followed in their footsteps to become an important player for the team at the start of the current campaign following his move from Man City. But due to a knee issue, the Ukrainian has missed Arsenal’s last two fixtures and remains a doubt this weekend.
To make matters worse, Arsenal are certain to be without Thomas Partey as he’s facing ‘weeks’ on the sidelines with a thigh injury. Mohamed Elneny is also out with Arteta expecting the Egyptian to be missing for ‘months’.
Speaking ahead of their trip to Old Trafford, the Arsenal boss told Arsenal.com:
“Those two [Ramsdale and Odegaard] are being assessed, we will see more tomorrow. Hopefully, they will be able to train with the team.”
“Unfortunately with Alex [Zinchenko] that’s still not the case, he missed two games and has not been able to train with the team yet.”
“With Mo it’s probably a little bit easier and we are talking months. With Thomas, hopefully we are talking weeks or even shorter than that I hope.
“We have tried to manage [Thomas]. A lot has happened since he joined and we are trying to find the best possible way to find the reason why that happens, but unfortunately, the body and mind are two different groups so sometimes to understand that you can’t put your finger on a single thing to try to prevent something happening.”
If Zinchenko, Odegaard and Ramsdale all miss this weekend’s heavyweight clash, it will be a massive blow to Arsenal, as all three have been influential figures in their unbeaten run, which stretches back to the start of the preseason.
Matt Turner is on stand-by to deputise for Ramsdale in goal, while Kieran Tierney should continue at left-back in place of Zinchenko. If Odegaard is out for Arsenal, Emile Smith Rowe is likely to be recalled. However, Arteta will be praying the trio come through late fitness tests.
It’s a far from ideal situation for Arteta to be in with several key players either doubtful or ruled out of an important match against Man Utd – who’ll be one of their closest rivals this season.
