Three injuries have been fixed for Mikel Arteta just in time for a tough run of away games, and Arsenal’s manager is thinking about giving another teenage goalkeeper his start.
Both Gabriel and Jurrien Timber had to leave Arsenal’s game against Liverpool on Sunday because they were hurt. Gunners leader Martin Odegaard has been out since September with an ankle injury.
Arteta was confident in his three most important players before they went on four away games. They started on Wednesday at Preston in the League Cup, then played at Newcastle, Inter Milan, and Chelsea.
Angel Gabriel is still being looked at, but Arteta said, “It doesn’t look bad at all.” “He felt a lot better the next day, so I hope he will be okay.” He’s been through some tests.
“Jurrien is all right. He had been out for a while and was very tired. He couldn’t play anymore because of this, but there is no new illness. We chose to make a very safe call because he could not go on. He was fine, though.
Odegaard was speeding up his recovery, according to Mail Sport, and was set to start training on grass again this week. Arteta said he was hoping that his captain would be back before the international break.
“He’s been on the grass for a few weeks, but there are still some things that need to be done,” he said. What we need to figure out is how fast we can finish the last part of his rehab once he’s back with the team and playing against them. That’s not what he’s done yet.
Bad news for Riccardo Calafiori, though: he hurt himself against Shakhtar Donetsk and will likely be out for “a few weeks.”
Arteta might give young goalie Tommy Setford his first start at Deepdale on Wednesday night.
The player came from the Ajax school. His brother Charlie also plays for the Dutch team, and his father Chris is a professional golfer. He joined in the summer, but got hurt and missed most of the season.
If he does play, Arteta will have used a young goalkeeper for the second round in a row. Jack Porter started the last game against Bolton.
“Tommy was brought in because we know he has the skills we need in our goalkeeping area,” Arteta said. “Unfortunately, he’s been hurt, so he hasn’t played much.”
“It’s not about their age; they should play because they deserve to, just like the other players.”
At the end of the day, we have to reward the people who act in a certain way every day and have the skill level to play the way we want to play. If that’s the case, I don’t care if they are youth players, seniors, or players from the academy—they will play.