Mikel Arteta was relatively upbeat about the state of his team ahead of Saturday’s game against Bournemouth at Vitality.
They all made the trip to the south coast despite several players, Thomas Partey and Kai Havertz, being removed from international duty and two others, Saka and Martinelli, having issues while on the sidelines. They seem to be fighting.
There was also a positive update on Martin Odegaard, who continues to rehabilitate his ankle ligament injury. Unfortunately, the manager admitted that Takehiro Tomiyasu, who made his first appearance of the season against Southampton before the game against Interlu, has a new problem.
Below is what the coach said at the pre-match press conference.
On Bukayo Hill…
It’s not a serious injury and he’s progressed really well and achieved some things in the last two days. Obviously, he was not healthy enough to play for the national team in the second game (against Finland). We are looking forward to it. We have a training session this afternoon and he practiced a little yesterday, so let’s see if he can make it on time.
About Martin Odegaard…
I don’t think he’s suitable for this match, but next week will be a different story. But again, in the later stages of his rehabilitation, he’s already done a lot of things right now and he needs to clear some markers and he’s got certain things that he needs to be comfortable doing, especially with the ball. I need to clear that up. I think next week will be important to understand how close he is.
Regarding Odegaard’s return for the next seven games (until the next interlude)…
yes. Preferably so.
About Kai Havertz…
He’s had some issues, but we’ve dealt with them. He was really great. He had very good communication with the national team and the coach and understood the situation. Obviously, we’ve fixed everything we can here, and again, if he trains well today, he’ll have a chance to be conditioned and adaptable.
About Ben White, Julian Timber and Oleksandr Zinchenko…
They’re pretty close to these three. We need to push again today (in training) and see who is available (to play). Because obviously we’re struggling a little bit with our numbers, especially on the right side. We have some positive news today and we hope to have some players back tomorrow.
About Thomas Partey…
Yes, Thomas is fine.
About Gabriel Martinelli…
Arrived here yesterday afternoon with Gabi. The time we had with him was very short. Yesterday, he went out for a bit to check on his health, and today will be another step in determining if he is healthy. I know what the player is going to say, he will definitely say he is fit.
In Tomiyasu…
Well, I don’t know (for how long). Hopefully it won’t be for a long time. We’ll have to see when he comes back and how he reacts to the load and the impact on the pitch. We really need him, the work he’s done, the number of hours he’s put in to come back is unbelievable. he did it. He was in great shape, but now he’s got something else. We’re all rooting for him, he needs our support, and hopefully he’ll be okay.
