Arsenal and Mikel Arteta face a massive task today with the visit of Frank Lampard’s youthful Chelsea side to the Emirates, but at least it looks like he will have a few more players to choose from than he did against Bournemouth as our injury list eases.
Our defence was very makeshift in Arteta’s first match, and although Kieran Tieney is a long term absentee, and Sead Kolasinac will miss the next few games, the Boss will be assessing Bellerin and Holding’s recovery to see if they are available.
We have also lost Sokratis for this match due to concussion but at least we will have Calum Chambers back from suspension to fill the void, if Holding is not yet ready.
We have more good news with the fact that Dani Ceballos and Gabriel Martinelli are also back in training and will also be assessed ahead of today’s game.
Obviously not all these players will be deemed to be match fit and may remain on the injury list for now, but it is clear that Arteta will have many more choices when we move into the New Year. There is also a slim hope that we could be bringing in a couple of new faces in January, as Arteta told SkySports: “We need players back from injuries, first of all, to be more solid, more compact. And then we might need to do one or two things if the right players become available, to help us. But at the moment I am more concerned with getting the maximum out of the players available to us.”
The fact is that, despite our awful run of poor form, we do actually have a great squad of talented players. Now if Arteta can just get them motivated and hungry again, and we get most of our injured players off the injury list, we will definitely start winning games again.
Let us hope we get a great morale booster this afternoon…
Admin Pat
If only Kolasinac was back….
Martineli and chambers is a huge + to the squad
Yes we do have a talented squad.
Even clueless Emery got 5th place and made the EL final
with out Bellerin Tierney Luiz Ceballoa Martinelli or Pepe
and having to play Mkhitarian Xhaka and Ozil.
Arteta will achieve a lot with all these new additions, plus Rabiot and no Xhaka
A dominant win over Chelsea and Utd is expected.
EL win should be well within this squads reach.
I am not sure about us having dominant wins against Chelsea and United. We can only hope.
@agu Eman I want a little of what you are smoking, you failed to mention that even with all those additions every team was slaughtering arsenal which got emery the sack
Back to your usual nonsense I see, sadly. Do you actually KNOW what the word “realistic” means?
It would be wise for us to lay low until we get our feet under us. What I mean by thus is, stay mid table and avoid CL or EL, and regroup next season, where we’ll only be playing one match a week, save for the odd FA and League Cup matches… Leicester City did it and pipped everybody the the PL trophy… IJS 🤔
Sounds like a concession I would be willing to make.
More players available means more options which will aid MA in picking out a team that can exhibit his intentions on the pitch.
OT: it’s amazing Eriksen will be available for a transfer this January and a free agent come season end and Arsenal isn’t looking at him. He’s full of quality that we need badly. A perfect Carzola replacement.
Oh Right! He leaves Spuds as he wants to win titles and lands on us. Flying pigs etc…..!
Why would Eriksen want to replace Spurs with us??
Is he a fan of Europa league and Mikel Arteta?
Im lowering my expectations for chelsea and united games. I think the games have come too soon for Arteta. I also believe no amount of coaching talent and experience could transform Mustafi, Socratis and Luiz into defenders. Theyre just not good enough. Pep can’t improve Otamendi no matter how much he’s tried. Cant believe Mustafi and Otamendi actually played together at Valencia in 2014 REAL clowns
Sorry, but an injured (for a long time) footballer performs worse than pre-injury. So to us an injured footballer is a wasted asset, especially if we are to win win win in the future
What I do think to make this team great again is to remove some dead wood and bring in some good signing example is a central defender and a mild finder an attacker who can help solidify the remaining ones who are going to remain