It’s an early start today, a 12.30 lunch kick-off as we face Aston Villa away from home. As you might expect, Mikel Arteta gave little away when it came to team news, essentially saying he’d have to wait and see, sending greetings to Declan Rice, William Saliba and Leandro Trossard. We have now learned that Cristhian Mosquera is out for six to eight weeks with an ankle problem he suffered in the first half of the win over Brentford on Wednesday evening.
About the others he said:
We have another training in the afternoon. Every hour will be very important to see the players’ availability. Then we decide which ones are available.
We’ll be short at the back if Saliba doesn’t make it, and if that’s the case it could only be Jurrien Timber coming into action at centre-back with Ben White after an excellent performance at right-back in midweek. In midfield, when there is no Rice, there are several configurations available to the manager. Christian Norgaard could come in and Martin Zubimendi could push forward; there is Eberechi Eze who plays together with Martin Odegaard; while Mikel Merino could drop back to centre-forward to play in midfield if Viktor Gyokeres is fit enough to start up front. He could then play Gabriel Martinelli and Noni Madueke on the left, or even push Eze out if the midfield takes a different shape.
However, it would obviously be good news to have the aforementioned players available, which would take some of the headache out of team selection. I’ve seen reports of Rice saying he can play fine, but being good and 100% fit and ready to perform 90 minutes into a very hectic schedule are two very different things. He seemed to be feeling the effects of those games before he left against Brentford, so we’ll just have to wait and see.
Both teams come into this competition because of the midweek matches, so with the early kick-off it could be quite a test for the players. Also with the early start it could well be one of those damp squib games that tend to happen these days, but this is also a high stakes encounter. Villa are in third place, just six points behind us, and they are in great form at the moment. It’s always been a pretty tough place to go, and with the added Unai Emery factor there’s a little extra on both sides of the story.
Villa have a lot of quality and this is going to be a difficult one, I think. One in which, as your title credentials are tested, you have to dig very deep. I have no doubt that we have the quality ourselves, but with such a short turnaround time compared to the last game you just don’t quite know how performance will be affected. Hopefully the boys have had their vitamins this morning and the team looks solid with some key players available. It’s also a chance to put some pressure on Man City, who play at 3pm. A win today would make us 8 clear, at least temporarily, and while that isn’t our primary goal, it would add something to the mix.
Okay, I’ll leave it at that. For something to listen to ahead of kick-off, check out our preview podcast on Patreon now, and as always you can join us live blog coverageas well as the report, player ratings, reaction and everything else Arseblog news.
For now: enjoy, and come on your reds!
#wait #injuries #ahead #Villa #trip