Mikel Arteta has been discussing the fitness of our first-team squad at the Sobha Realty Training Centre ahead of our Premier League clash with Leeds United.
After we finished off a perfect league phase in the Champions League, the boss reported that everyone came through our 3-2 victory over Kairat Almaty unscathed.
“We didn’t have any surprises there, hopefully everybody will train well today and be available for tomorrow.”
After defenders William Saliba and Jurrien Timber missed out on a spot in the midweek squad with knocks, they’ll be back in the fold for our trip to Elland Road.
“They are OK, obviously they have been playing a lot of minutes,” Mikel said on Friday morning, “they’ve been carrying a few niggles.
“It was a really good opportunity (against Kairat) to offload them a little bit and refresh them.”
With our defenders back from injury and Declan Rice and Mikel Merino’s suspensions served, the only absence from our squad will be Max Dowman.
After agreeing a pre-contract agreement that will see him sign professional terms upon turning 17, the 16-year-old will have to wait to get back on the pitch as he continues his recovery.
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“It will be a little bit more than Mosquera’s. He’s growing and we need to be very careful and a little more protective,” Mikel said on Max’s recovery.
“He has a different schedule as well because he needs to go to school, so we need to respect a lot of things throughout that process.
“But I think he’s quite close. He’s on the pitch now, he’s doing well and hopefully we’re going to be able to see him soon.”
While we’ll have to wait on Max’s return to first-team action, both Ricciardo Calafiori and Kai Havertz started for the first time in 2026 in Wednesday’s Champions League victory.
On Calafiori’s return, the boss said “Richy has been instrumental, especially in the way we attack.
“He has unique qualities to occupy spaces and to create things that probably the qualities of the other full-backs are different. So when we need them, they will be there.
“Now he’s fit, he’s available and we’ll have to wait and see when we can use him.”
Our victory over Kairat also saw Kai Havertz start a competitive game for the first time in almost a year, and the boss is looking forward to seeing more of the forward.
“He is ready, obviously he started the other day, obviously it’s been a long period and now we need to manage that load and the games we’re going to select for him to start.
“But there was no (negative) reaction to that, I think it was super positive, you could see straightaway the impact that he can have in the team.”
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