Arsenal team news: Arteta offers update on 4 players ahead of Chelsea clash

Mikel Arteta has provided a team news and injury update ahead of Arsenal’s Premier League clash with Chelsea, including the latest on five of his first team players.

The Gunners head into gameweek 3 having won each of their opening two Premier League matches. The defending champions opened up with a 3-0 victory over newly-promoted Coventry City before edging past Aston Villa 1-0 at Villa Park last weekend.

Arteta will now pit his wits against compatriot Xabi Alonso when Chelsea travel to the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon, but the Arsenal boss could be without big-money summer signing Bruno Guimaraes for the game.

The Brazilian international made his debut for Arsenal during the win at Villa, coming off the bench for the final 20 minutes. However, Guimaraes picked up a knock during his late cameo and will need to be assessed before his availability for Sunday is decided.

Another doubt for this weekend’s action is Cristhian Mosquera after he limped off with an apparent thigh issue against Villa in the second half. Arteta says his withdrawal was more of a ‘precaution’ but Mosquera will still need to be checked by the clubs medical staff to see if he’s fit to face Chelsea on Sunday.

Konsa ready to go

Ezri Konsa replaced Mosquera in the 78th minute at Villa Park to make his debut against his former club following his move to Arsenal last month. The England international is available to make his full debut should he be needed.

Arteta told Arsenal.com a

“[Bruno] had a knock against Villa in the previous game and he’s being assessed. Hopefully [Saturday], he will be okay for training.”

“For Cristhian, it was more precaution than anything else, so we’ll have to see in the session [Saturday] how he feels,”

“Ezri is certainly available in the squad, so we’ll see when we make our selection.”

Arteta also provided the latest on the fitness of Jurrien Timber. The Dutchman is yet to feature this season after missing the World Cup in the summer with a groin issue that hampered him during the closing stages of last season.

The Arsenal boss says Timber is now in a ‘really good’ place having returned to full training recently and will be assessed on Saturday to determine whether he’ll be involved against Chelsea on Sunday.

‘Really positive’ Saliba news

There was also a positive update on the recovery of William Saliba. The Frenchman was initially expected to be out until at least late November with a back injury that he aggravated while representing his country at the World Cup.

However, after being included in Arsenal’s Champions League squad list, is appears Saliba may be ahead of schedule. Arteta says the centre-back’s progress has been ‘really positive’ but they need to see how he responds when he steps up his workload over the coming weeks.

Arteta continued on Arsenal.com:

“Jurrien is in really good condition at the moment, he’s been a few weeks on the pitch and has been training with us, so he’s in a really good place. We will decide [on his involvement on Sunday] after training [on Saturday].

“We don’t really know the amount of weeks Wilo is going to be out because it’s about a healing process and everything is a bit different – we know we have to respect certain timings.

“The progression has been really positive in the last few weeks, but we need to wait and see how that one reacts when we start to put some load into it.”

It would be a huge boost for Arsenal if Guimaraes, Timber and Mosquera were passed fit to be in the squad against Chelsea this weekend. It would give Arteta two top class options in defence while Guimaraes has already shown in the limited time he’s been at Arsenal that he will be a huge asset to the club.

We’ll have to wait and see which players make it when the teams are announced on Sunday afternoon as Arsenal look to make it three wins from three games and make an early statement in the title race with a win over Chelsea.