Arsenal went into the international break full of confidence after they came from a goal down to beat Southampton at home. The gunners are now just one point off league leaders Liverpool. With Bukayo Saka leading the Premier League in assists, and Kai Havertz in form, the North London club have a real shot at challenging again this season.
Mikel Arteta says the game against the Saints was a much needed wake up call for his team:
“The wake-up call was that we conceded a goal. But the way we started the games and dominated the opposition, I think against Leicester we beat every record that was set before and today will be something similar. But you need to score three, four or five and if you don’t, this is the Premier League, game on. But if we have a wake-up call, it’s the goal they scored and we had to react to that, true. We did it and we did it in a convincing way.”
Thomas Partey and Kai Havertz pull out of international duty
Just hours before the last game before the break, it was revealed Kai Havertz would not be reporting for duty with Germany due to a knee injury. Just days later, Thomas Partey was also withdrawn from the Ghana team.
“We monitored all the players until they finished their matches. Then in the late hours of Sunday, the medical team received correspondence from Arsenal that Thomas was feeling unwell. So we needed to take it to the next level by demanding proof about the illness. They sent an email with proof, and it was further interrogated. Dr. Pambo escalated the issue, and it went to the management level; the President came in, and Alex Asante came in.”
Arsenal stated that Partey was not fit to travel to Ghana for a medical assessment. The GFA then decided to trigger a FIFA rule on the matter to invite the midfielder to the camp.
“Then it got to a point where we decided that the rules allow us to invite the player for assessment with our medical team. We triggered that rule, and it became a condition between the player and the FA.
“Then the club sent us back an email, informing us that the player feels uncomfortable travelling for that number of hours just for assessment, so we should rethink our decision.”
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