“We’ll see how he recovers” – Arteta offers update after Arsenal star leaves hospital

Mikel Arteta has provided an update on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang after the Arsenal striker confirmed he’s contracted malaria.

Aubameyang missed Arsenal’s 3-0 win against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane last weekend and Arteta told reporters after the game that his skipper was ‘feeling unwell’.

The 31-year-old wasn’t spotted in training ahead of Arsenal’s Europa League clash with Slavia Prague on Thursday night. Aubameyang took to Instagram shortly before kick-off to confirm he contracted malaria while away with Gabon during the international break last month.

Speaking to reporters after the impressive 4-0 victory in Prague, Arteta provided an update on his captain and confirmed Aubameyang is now back home after spending two days in hospital being treated.

The Gunners boss said the striker is ‘feeling good’ and is keen to be back in action as soon as possible. The club will ‘see how he recovers’ and Arteta is hopeful it won’t take long before the Gabon international is available again.

Arteta told Arsenal.com:

on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang…
We just spoke with him. He’s at home, he’s fine, he’s completely fine at the moment. He had two days in hospital to get the right treatment but he’s feeling good now.

on whether Auba will be back training soon…
We’ll see how he recovers. I think he’ll need a few days to recover from that. He wants to be back as soon as possible, that’s what he said to me.

on whether it could be a while until Aubameyang makes a full recovery…
Hopefully not because he feels really good, that’s what he said to me today, and he really wants to get back, but I don’t know, it shouldn’t take too long.

Aubameyang is expected to sit out Arsenal’s Premier League clash with Fulham on Sunday afternoon but will hope to make his return for the visit of Everton to the Emirates next Friday night.

Martin Odegaard missed his third consecutive game having failed to recover from an ankle injury in time to face Slavia Prague last night. The Norwegian midfielder is a doubt for the Fulham game this weekend so could remain on the sidelines along with David Luiz and Kieran Tierney.

Arsenal will head into the weekend action in confident mood after booking their place in the Europa League semi-finals with an impressive 4-0 win over Slavia Prague last night.

However, the North Londoners sit ninth in the Premier League table so desperately need to beat Fulham to help close the gap on the European qualification places.