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| Martin Odegaard of Arsenal during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Aston Villa at Emirates Stadium on August 31, 2022 in London, England. |
Mikel Arteta revealed
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard and goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale are doubts for
the trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the
situation also looks bleak for full-back Oleksandr Zinchenko, who has not been
able to train this week after sitting out the club’s previous two games with a
knee injury. Arsenal sit top of the table having won all five of their opening
games.
Many see their clash
with United as their first big test of the season, and they could travel to
Manchester without a number of their key players. Odegaard has scored three
times this season while Ramsdale has kept two clean sheets; Zinchenko has
recorded an assist in his three outings, too.
All three have been
instrumental in Arsenal’s perfect start so their absence may give United — who have also won their last three games —
encouragement going into the clash. Asked about injury news in Friday’s press
conference, Arteta explained: “We will see more tomorrow.“Hopefully, they’ll
[Odegaard and Ramsdale] be available to train with the team. Unfortunately,
Alex [Zinchenko] still hasn’t been able to train with the team yet.“After missing two
games and not being able to train with the team, unfortunately that’s the
situation that we have.” Meanwhile, Thomas Partey will be unavailable for the
fixture through injury with Mohamed Elneny out with a long-term issue for
several months.
Achilles injury. Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Luke Shaw are doubts after missing
Thursday’s win over Leicester with “small complaints”.
New £85m signing Antony
will be assessed over two training sessions before a decision is made on his
inclusion in the game, as he looks to make his United debut. United have spent
a total of £225.4 this summer, a club record amount for a single window.
After a shaky start,
Arteta said he was “not surprised” to see Erik ten Hag turn the ship
around so quickly given their cash funds. He added: “When you look at the
squad that they have, the amount of money that they have and what they’ve done
in the market, I’m not surprised.“They’re going to
win a lot of football matches. Manchester United’s history tells you that this
is going to happen. It’s another big rival and we have to compete with
them.”
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