Arsenal Team News: Wenger Offers Update On Ozil, Arteta + More Ahead Of Everton

Arsenal take on Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday night looking to make it two wins from two in the Premier League.

Ahead of the game, boss Arsene Wenger has been speaking at his pre-match press conference on Thursday and gave Arsenal.com a team news update including the latest on Mikel Arteta, Mesut Ozil, Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski.

Unfortunately Arteta has been ruled out of the game after picking up an ankle injury during our 0-0 Champions League draw with Besiktas on Tuesday. It’s not clear how long the Spaniard will be out for but it’s unlikely he’ll play again before the international break at the end of the month.

Wenger also confirmed that he’ll make a late check on the fitness of our World Cup winning German trio of Mesut Ozil, Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski, although the Frenchman did state that he won’t start all three in the game.

I’d expect Ozil to play some part, possibly from the start depending on his physical fitness, but I’d be surprised if the boss decided to start Mertesacker in such an intense away game from the beginning. He hasn’t played a competitive game since coming on in the World Cup final so it would be a risk to throw him straight back in to action this weekend.

Therefore, I suspect Calum Chambers – who has impressed greatly during his first three games for the club – will continue alongside Laurent Koscielny at the back on Saturday.

Here is what Arsene told the clubs website:

on the latest updates…

We just have Mikel Arteta who is out for sure from the Everton game. Everybody else we have to check this morning, but we have no major [new] problems apart from him compared to Besiktas.

on the return of the three Germans…

I will check of course today and tomorrow to see if they will be available for selection. That is a target I fixed to them to prepare to be ready for selection against Everton. Will I use the three? Certainly not because they lack competition but they might be included for Saturday.

Other than Arteta, we have no fresh injury concerns so he joins Kieran Gibbs, Theo Walcott, Serge Gnabry, Ryo Miyaichi and David Ospina on the sidelines. Wenger didn’t give an update on Yaya Sanogo but the French striker should rejoin the squad this weekend after missing the game in midweek.