The managers of Arsenal, Manchester City and Newcastle United all faced the media on Tuesday ahead of their clubs’ UEFA Champions League matches the following day.
Here’s what they had to say about the injury situation on their respective teams.
ARSENAL
Declan Rice will miss Arsenal’s match against Club Brugge due to illness.
William Saliba is also not ready to return yet Leandro Trossard suffered the recurrence of his recent injury during his comeback match in Gameweek 15.
“No [they are not available]. So Declan was sick. He was already quite ill after the match and did not travel with us. William is still unavailable, and Leo has taken another knock in an area where he had the previous problem, and I don’t expect this to last long, but unfortunately he can’t be with us. – Mikel Arteta on whether Trossard, Saliba and Rice are available
It sounds quite positive about Rice, who wanted to be involved in Belgium.
“I think he needed a bed more than sunshine because he wasn’t feeling well at all! So yes, he’ll have a few days to rest and get his body right. But today he really wanted to be able to play. And unfortunately he’s not able to do that.” – Mikel Arteta on whether Declan Rice’s illness will allow him to go away for a few days and rest
Max Dowman (ankle) has been added Cristhian Mosquera (single), Kai Havertz (knee) and Gabriel Magalhaes (knee) meanwhile on the sidelines.
That made the fit-again possible Gabriel Jesus to rejoin the Champions League squad.
“With Max [Dowman]he suffered an injury last weekend and had to go to the field. So he’s had some scans and he’ll be out for weeks. And then we have Gabi’s situation [Jesus]who we expected to train with us at the end of December. But Gabi pushed every day and he kept telling everyone, ‘I’ll come earlier, earlier, earlier,’ and he did it. So thanks to his work and all the work that the medical staff has done with him over the last few months, we had the opportunity to make a trade there and we did it. On the one hand you see Max and his situation and on the other hand you see the joy and how happy Gabi is to be back in the competition with us.” – Mikel Arteta
Riccardo Calafiori can play in Europe, but is suspended in Gameweek 16 due to yellow cards.
He was also mentioned by Arteta in the pre-match presser as someone whose minutes have been managed recently.
“Yes, a big one. I mean, losing Max again, it is of course not ideal with Leo, who is just coming back, that we have to manage the minutes. Willy is still not there. We have lost Big Gabi, and we have other players who could only play certain minutes. Like Riccy for example [Calafiori] the other day. But it is a situation that we have been managing since the start of the season. We’re in December, so it’s almost five months in a remarkable way, and we keep doing the same thing.” – Mikel Arteta on how frustrating it is that Arsenal keep picking up injuries
MANCHESTER CITY
In a press conference dominated by questions about Xabi Alonso (“He should pee himself!”) and the pressure of managing in Spain, Pep Guardiola at least confirmed the reason why John Stones’ Gameweek 15 absence and his omission from the traveling team to Madrid.
‘Legs, I don’t know yet [how long he will be out].” – Pep Guardiola on John Stones
Rodri (hamstring) and Matthew Kovacic (ankle) also remain absent.
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Yoane warned came through his comeback game unscathed on Saturday, with his manager discussing the striker’s fitness in Tuesday’s presser.
“He looks positive, I think his body language is very good. He felt stimulated by coming on the pitch and playing. It’s probably earlier than we would have liked, but I think he’s ready to get minutes. The challenge we have now is that he will have limited training time between games to continue to develop his fitness, so it will be a balancing act that we have to try to get right. But I think in those 20 minutes he showed his quality and what he can bring, and I think that he will only get that.” better.” – Eddie Howe on Yoane Wissa
Eddie Howe confirmed Newcastle don’t have that each new concerns from the Burnley game, indeed.
Lewis Hall was previously on the bench, a decision that was partly influenced by illness.
Howe was asked about the workload of his two full-backs since returning from mid-term injuries.
“We don’t have the depth in those positions that we would like to have at this time of the season, but we just have to get on with it.
“Lewis was ill before Saturday’s match and we didn’t want to risk pushing him when he was tired, but he got through the 30 minutes he played well. Hopefully everything will be fine with both players.” – Eddie Howe on Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento
And inevitably the Tyne-Wear derby raised questions.
“No, not necessarily. We will pick a team that I think will be strong tomorrow and hopefully strong on Sunday. We have a few injuries, especially to our back line, which has been there for a few games now and that is a concern for us, but we come here with a strong team.” – Eddie Howe on whether Sunday’s Tyne-Wear derby will affect his selection against Leverkusen
Sven Botman (back), Kieran Trippier (hamstring), Will Osula (single), Emil Krafth (knee) and Nick Pope (groin) stay outside.
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