Arsenal will aim to return to winning ways when they welcome Everton to the Emirates on Saturday afternoon. Mikel Arteta has no new injury concerns to worry about ahead of his side’s latest fixture.
Arteta has been sweating over the fitness of Martin Odegaard (knee) and Leandro Trossard (knock) in the past week, with the duo recovering from minor injuries. They face late fitness tests to determine their availability.
However, Mikel Merino remains the long-term absentee, with the Spanish international recovering from a foot injury. Meanwhile, during his pre-match press conference, Arteta provided fitness updates on Odegaard and Trossard.
The Arsenal head coach said, “We’ll see. We will have to wait and see and speak to the doctors on whether they are involved or not. No [lineup in mind for next weekend’s EFL Cup final], because we come from five games in very short periods of time again.”
“You just have to go game by game, understanding who can play a certain amount of minutes, who doesn’t. Maybe for the next game you have an idea of what you can do, but two or three games away is quite difficult at the moment.”
Meanwhile, during his presser, Arteta also addressed questions about managing his players’ fitness when they embark on international duty in ten days. The Arsenal head coach revealed how the Gunners communicate with the national team managers.
“We have really good communication with most of them [national team managers] and we have a thorough decision just like they do on how we’re doing. They have communication with the players themselves as well and what they expect, and that was a way to see how everybody is, have those conversations and make the right decisions.”
David Raya is an automatic pick between the sticks, with Arsenal lining up in a 4-2-3-1 formation in front of him against Everton on Saturday. The backline will feature Jurrien Timber, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, and Riccardo Calafiori, who will replace Piero Hincapie.
As for the midfield unit, there is no looking past Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi in the double pivot. Bukayo Saka will reprise the no. 10 role, with Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze being the two wide attackers. Finally, Viktor Gyokeres will lead the line for the home side against Everton this weekend.
Predicted Arsenal XI: Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Zubimendi, Rice; Madueke, Saka, Eze; Havertz
