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Morning all.
We have Carabao Cup action later on when we play Preston North End at Deepdale. It’s a chance for Mikel Arteta to rotate his squad a bit, and he provided some updates on Gabriel and Jurrien Timber after they went off against Liverpool, saying:
We are still assessing him [Gabriel], it doesn’t look bad at all. He was much better than expected, so hopefully he’ll be fine. He’s had some tests.
Jurrien is fine. He was very tired, he had been out for a while and could not continue the game but there is no new injury there. He could not continue, so we decided to make a very safe call.
He did confirm that Riccardo Calafiori would be out of action for ‘a few weeks’, and suggested Martin Odegaard, despite being out on the grass, still has a ‘few boxes to tick’ before he makes his comeback. It’s hard not to wonder if Norway’s desire to call him up for the upcoming internationals means Arsenal will play it super-safe and not bring him back until there’s no realistic chance of him going away with his country. Perhaps Chelsea? We’ll see.
So, what of tonight? I think it will probably be a stronger team than people might expect, or like. I could see something like Raya in goal – because Neto is cup-tied and Arteta sounded quite cautious about Tommy Setford who is just back from injury – with a back four of White, Saliba, Kiwior, Lewis-Skelly.
In midfield I reckon Jorginho will start, with Ethan Nwaneri in there too, and I wouldn’t be at all shocked to see one of Rice or Merino. Then up front it’ll be a chance for Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling, and then one of Havertz, Trossard or Martinelli depending on the construction of the front three. As I wrote yesterday, I wonder about Oleksandr Zinchenko – could he play in midfield? Or could he start at left-back with Lewis-Skelly alongside Nwaneri further forward as he is very comfortable in midfield?
Arteta was asked about the Ukrainian in his press conference, and the decision to…
Source link : https://arseblog.com/2024/10/some-changes-but-strong-team-likely-for-preston-clash/
Author : arseblog
Publish date : 2024-10-30 06:58:14
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