Arteta provides update on Timber, White, Norgaard & Havertz before Leeds United
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has provided an update on four first-team stars ahead of the Premier League game against Leeds United at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
The Gunners started their campaign with a 1-0 win over Manchester United on the road.
They were far from their best, but managed to pick up a victory after a good defensive shift.
Arteta will expect a more commanding performance in front of the supporters tomorrow. Ahead of the game versus Leeds, the manager has issued an update on four first-team players.
Kai Havertz is out for a few weeks after a knee injury. When asked about the German, he told reporters: “Well mentally, he’s in a good place. Strong, committed and he had an incredible recovery.
“Now he’s got a setback, let’s see how bad it is.
“We don’t really know the extent of it. We need a bit more time and some more tests, and after that we will have some more clarity.
“I prefer not to talk about the specifics, but he is not fit. We need to explore this situation a bit further and decide what we are going to do.
“I don’t know [how long he will be out for]. I would love to have him available for tomorrow.”
The Spanish tactician added that Christian Norgaard won’t be in the squad tomorrow, having picked up an injury before the curtain-raiser against the Red Devils last weekend.
Ben White will be assessed ahead of the game, while Jurrien Timber was taken out of the main session on Wednesday (open training) as a precaution to manage his workload.
Arteta said on the trio: “Christian won’t be in the squad. With Ben, let’s see how he reacts. Christian will be out for a week or so.
“Jurrien [Timber] we need to manage his load. That’s why we took him out of the main session at open training.”
Arsenal were outplayed by United at different stages at Old Trafford, but they managed to capitalise on a goalkeeping error from Altay Bayindir to open the scoring through Riccardo Calafiori.
David Raya was brilliant between the sticks with seven saves, while William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes need to be lauded for some terrific defending to keep a clean sheet for the Gunners.
Against Leeds, Arteta will surely demand a strong attacking performance. The forwards looked out of sync against United. There were several misplaced passes on the counter-attack.
Hopefully, we will see a better showing in the final third. Viktor Gyokeres made some good runs behind the backline last weekend, but he was not complemented with timely passes.
Arsenal have won in their previous six meetings against Leeds, scoring four goals on three occasions. It should be another free-flowing game with the visitors unlikely to park the bus.
Stats from Sofascore.com
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