Arsenal are in action tonight in the Champions League, against Slavia Prague. There was no sign of Viktor Gyokeres in the opening training session before the team left London, and at his press conference the manager sounded quite downbeat about the injury the Swedish striker suffered during Saturday’s 2-0 win over Burnley:
He’s definitely not available. He did not train today and we still need to do some tests and scans in the coming days to understand the extent of the injury, but he is not available for this match.
I’m worried because he hasn’t had many muscle problems and he had to leave the field because he felt something, and that’s obviously never a good sign. Especially for a player who is very, very explosive, so we are doing our best to understand where we stand in terms of injuries and we will announce it when we know more.
You’re never quite sure if it’s Arteta and injuries, but it doesn’t sound like it’s a minor thing. With most of the other attackers also sidelined, it makes him think about his team tonight. He could use Mikel Merino, just like on Saturday; there is the possibility of playing Leandro Trossard there; or even give a start to young Andre Harriman-Anous who played in the EFL Cup win over Brighton.
Tonight’s opponents are top of the domestic league and are unbeaten domestically in all competitions since December last year, when Anderlecht went there and won 2-1. Still, I think we’ll see a team going through changes. There is no Martin Zubimendi, who is suspended, so we could see Christian Norgaard start, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the likes of Ben White, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri, Piero Hincapie and Cristhian Mosquera were involved. If Arteta is right to be concerned about the lack of options up front, he does have the option to rotate further back – not just to give those players minutes, but to protect his ‘first-choice’ starters ahead of a difficult Premier League away match this weekend.
At the top, I’m sure we’ll see Bukayo Saka starting. Eberechi Eze could play on the left if he wants to play Trossard up front, but without Gyokeres, Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz, Noni Madueke, Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard, the options are seriously limited. Arteta says:
We have to face it [the injury situation]we have handled it brilliantly and we will continue to do so. Tomorrow we know that we are facing a very nice challenge here and also within the team they are very intense, very direct, very vertical and we will have to be very good to achieve what we want.
Arsenal has been performing perfectly in Europe so far this season. Three games, three wins, no goals conceded, and I’m sure that’s a record the manager will want to keep up. I just wonder if, given the injuries, the potential rotation, and the game coming so soon after the last one, this game might be a little more out of control than we normally see. Let’s see what happens, and don’t forget this is also an early kick-off, with the match at 5.45pm.
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Meanwhile, the date for the Carabao Cup quarter-final against Crystal Palace has been announced as December 23 at 8pm. That means we’re playing just two days after our visit to Everton on December 21, and it appears Arsenal have made a request to move that match back to Saturday. Mikel Arteta said about it last night:
Hopefully they move our Premier League match, because playing two days later obviously makes no sense. We will now decide the date, I’m sure they will change the Premier League date as well. I think we know very clearly what is the best, the most logical date to play. I’m sure we’ll have to adapt to that.
The problem is that this match has been moved to that Sunday for TV coverage (Sky), and Arsenal fans will have already booked travel and possibly accommodation on that basis. The other aspect is that Palace themselves are playing in the Europa League on December 18, meaning their Premier League match away to Leeds is also on December 21, with no real chance of that being pushed back. So in the interest of ‘fairness’ they might say that while two days between matches isn’t ideal, it’s the same for both sides.
The other side of that is that Arsenal have been flexible to some extent to ensure Palace didn’t have to play four games in eight days, but still I can’t see them changing the date of the Everton match. A decision on that should be made fairly quickly, so I expect to hear something this week. Whatever happens, it is not ideal for either club, and as I said recently, the crowding on the playing field is a result of decisions made by those running the game without sufficient regard for the players or the fans.
Let’s see what happens, but one way or another a cup quarter-final will be shortened because of the schedule, and ultimately that’s a shame.
Okay, I’ll leave it at that for now. We hope to have the live blog back later, but we will announce on BlueSky if we are running that coverage. We will have all the usual things on Arseblog newsand below is an Arsecast Extra if you haven’t had a chance to listen yet.
Have a good one.
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