Mikel Arteta has issued an update on the fitness of key first-team players ahead of our first game of 2026 against Bournemouth on Saturday.
Declan Rice missed our 4-1 victory over Aston Villa on Tuesday with knee inflammation, but having not seen him train since Tuesday, the boss is waiting to see how Friday goes before making a decision on the England midfielder.
“We have another session today, let’s see how he comes today and how that’s feeling, but [the Villa game] was too early for him,” the boss said at the Sobha Realty Training Centre.
“Sometimes you get a hit and, throughout the game, you are able, with adrenaline and because you are warm, able to sustain that, and then the body reacts. It reacted probably more than we expected, unfortunately, and that’s where we are.”
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As well as potentially missing Declan on Saturday on the south coast, we’ll also be definitely without defenders Riccardo Calafiori and Cristhian Mosquera, which Mikel confirmed in his press conference.
On his reactions when we pick up a new injury, Mikel highlighted an opportunity to improve.
“The first thing reaction is what can we do better? The second thing is the reality of the sport that we play. But looking back in the last three seasons, we have had less days of injuries than before. So, it’s how you look at it.”
While we will be without some defensive players, our victory over Aston Villa marked the first game in which Gabriel Jesus, Viktor Gyokeres and Kai Havertz were all included in a matchday squad.
The boss is looking forward to a potential selection headache caused by having three experienced attackers available for our clash with the Cherries.
“It helps the team, it helps every individual. I think that’s what we want, to have the option, with the amount of games we have on the schedule.
“So far, we haven’t had that option, so I’m looking forward to having everybody on it, everybody performing and being able to change profiles, to change during the game as well and to pick players in the best conditions every time.”
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