Eberechi Eze, Jurrien Timber and Martin Odegaard are all doubts for Arsenal ahead of the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City at Wembley Stadium.
None of the trio trained on Friday, but Mikel Arteta acknowledged that the team will train again on Saturday. The manager, however, has not ruled out any of them returning to feature in Sunday’s match.
Eze appears the most likely to play, despite seemingly tweaking something during Tuesday night’s Champions League win over Bayer Leverkusen. The goalscorer came off midway through the second half as a precaution, but told TNT Sports afterwards: “I’m alright, I’ll be OK.”
Arteta also said that they did not sustain any fresh injuries in Germany. Mikel Merino remains a long-term absentee, with Odegaard and Timber also out.
The captain has now missed six successive matches with a knee injury since featuring as a second-half substitute in the north London derby. Odegaard also missed four of the five games before that, with his only appearance being off the bench against Brentford.
Timber, meanwhile, came off before half-time in the 2-0 win over Everton with an ankle injury. However, the issue appears minor after being named in the Netherlands squad for their upcoming friendlies against Ecuador and Norway.
Notably not in the Norway squad is Odegaard. England has also called up Eze for their fixtures against Japan and Uruguay.
Arteta addressed the fitness of Odegaard and Timber during Friday’s pre-match press conference. The manager said: “We have another training session, so the ones that are in contention hopefully can give us good news. We have another session, so let’s see if they can make it.”
As for Arsenal’s opponents, Man City are definitely without Josko Gvardiol, who fractured his leg earlier this year. Max Alleyne has also missed their last two matches, not even being on the bench.
John Stones, Rico Lewis, and Savinho have also missed recent games, but they made the bench for their midweek defeat to Real Madrid.
Bernardo Silva was shown a red card in that game for handball; however, the suspension only applies to UEFA competitions.
Marc Guehi is ineligible to play because he failed to sign from Crystal Palace in time during this winter’s transfer window. The defender also missed their semi-finals against Newcastle United.
There is also some speculation about Erling Haaland after Pep Guardiola substituted the striker midway through the second half. However, his manager said afterwards: “Erling Haaland has no injury, he will be available against Arsenal in the cup final.”
Guardiola added on Friday: “I’m pretty sure he’s focused, like all of us. I didn’t speak with him, we had two days off [after the Real Madrid match], but I’m pretty sure he’s ready.”
