White has been managing a knee issue for the past couple of weeks and hasn’t featured in the last three matches, after coming off the bench against Manchester City on 22 September.
In his absence, Jurrien Timber has impressed, but the Netherlands international picked up a muscular problem in the first half of Tuesday’s win over Paris Saint-Germain and was substituted as a precaution. His omission from the Netherlands squad for their upcoming Nations League friendlies suggests he’s unlikely to feature for the Gunners tomorrow.
While Takehiro Tomiyasu, another option at right-back, is edging closer to a return to action after picking up a knee injury in pre-season, it looks as though the Japan international won’t be seen until the other side of the upcoming Interlull.
“We had to modify training for a lot of players. It was the same today,” Arteta told his pre-game press conference.
“There will be a decision to make this afternoon yes or no. They [Timber and White] are close and Tomiyasu is too.”
The same can be said for Oleksandr Zinchenko and Martin Odegaard. The Ukraine international, not for the first time, picked up a calf problem while away on international duty in September and has been stuck in the treatment room.
“Alex after the international break, probably, if everything goes well,” said Arteta. “And Martin, it’s very difficult, I expected him still with the [protective] boot and a lot of things and he’s working so hard is feeling good and pushing so it’s difficult to give a timeline.”
The manager wasn’t pressed on what was a difficult response to interpret. All the same, it’s still expected Odegaard will be sidelined for another month or so.
With that in mind, on top of tomorrow’s clash, he’ll likely sit out clashes with Bournemouth, Shakhtar Donetsk and Liverpool. There’s an outside chance he could make the Carabao Cup game with Preston North End but the club are unlikely to take any necessary risks.
Kieran Tierney and third-choice keeper Tommy Setford are the other two absentees.
With another international break coming, Arteta is desperately hoping his players come through unscathed.
“I prefer not to watch the game, listen to nothing, and just pray that everybody is going to be fine, because the last one was a really difficult one to handle in many ways.
As for the timing of two such breaks so early in the season, he continued: “It’s been like this for years, We’re not going to change that. It’s part of the duties that they have, all the European teams, South Americans as well, it’s the same thing. But, yeah, we have to adapt to that and hopefully be healthy.
“The players have to be healthy to go to the national teams, but when they are, all of them, when I spoke to them, they all want to be part of that. That is normal, it’s a huge privilege to represent your country, they all want to be involved, they all have their role, they don’t want to lose it and you have to understand that as well.”
0 Comments