Now that Mikel Arteta has revealed that Tomiyasu has returned to the Arsenal squad, we all know that the Boss has everyone except Gabriel Martinelli to choose from this afternoon, so we should have a very strong team out to face Brentford.
Brentford brought in Christian Eriksen in January and Arteta is very happy to see the Dane back on the football scene after his cardiac arrest at the Euros. The boss was asked if Eriksen would get a good reception from Arsenal fans: “I hope so,” he said. “understanding what happened and where he was a few months ago. I would like to see that, it’s obviously something very personal, but from my side that would be the way that I would react to him. I will be so pleased to see him again on a football pitch.”
I’m afraid that he won’t get the opportunity today though, as the Bees boss Thomas Frank has decided he is not quite ready for this game. Frank said yesterday: “Christian Eriksen looked good in the 60 minutes he played [on Monday] and looked good in training. He feels well and is in a good place. He’s been out for seven months and normally you need a proper pre-season to get it going. He came to us with a good foundation, so he doesn’t need six weeks, but this Arsenal game is just one step too early. We have another good opponent for a friendly game on Monday. We are aiming for the Newcastle game.”
Frank was also not very hopeful of having their top scorer Ivan Toney available either, which should make life a little easier for the Arsenal defenders. Frank continued: “Ivan Toney has done some light sessions and we will assess him in the morning to see how close he is. He’s a player we would really like in our team, or at least in our squad. We will see tomorrow.”
Well, everything seems to be in Arsenal favour this afternoon, which is always a worry when we are overconfident, but with our fans behind the team I am confident we won’t fall on this banana skin again.
We can’t, can we?
COYG!
WATCH Arteta discussing Brentford, Tomiyasu and the brilliant home support
