Mikel Arteta confirmed Eberechi Eze is available to face Bournemouth and suggested Arsenal could welcome back more players despite several senior absences in training on Thursday.
Mikel Arteta offered Arsenal a potentially significant fitness lift ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Bournemouth, confirming that Eberechi Eze is available and hinting that more players could yet return despite a number of notable absentees from training on Thursday.
Eze was the clearest positive from Arteta’s press conference. The midfielder returned to training this week after a calf problem that ruled him out of Arsenal’s last three matches and forced him to withdraw from England duty. Asked for an update, Arteta said: “He’s available. My first conversation with him after he felt a niggle, he wanted to be available the next week. We knew that was impossible but the recovery, the will he’s shown from day one to get back as quick as possible, is great to watch.” It was a strong endorsement of both the player’s mentality and the speed of his recovery at a point in the season when availability is becoming critical.
The bigger intrigue, though, surrounds the players who were not seen in the open section of training. Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori were all absent on Thursday, along with Piero Hincapie and Mikel Merino. Yet Arteta did not shut the door on any of them being involved against Bournemouth. Asked directly about that group missing training, he replied: “There have been changes since yesterday.” Pressed on whether all four of Saka, Odegaard, Timber and Calafiori could now be available, his answer was more cautious but still encouraging: “I don’t know, some of them.”
That leaves Arsenal with a much less clear-cut injury picture than training alone initially suggested. Odegaard’s absence had naturally drawn attention after he started both the FA Cup defeat to Southampton and the midweek win over Sporting, while Saka and Timber remain two of the most closely watched names in the squad. Calafiori and Hincapie also matter to the defensive picture, particularly with Arsenal still balancing league and European demands. On Hincapie specifically, Arteta said only: “There will be changes tomorrow.”
There was also a more encouraging line on Merino, who has been out since surgery on a serious foot injury in February. Arteta said: “He’s going to push every boundary. He’s out of his boot, doing quite a lot of exercises already. He reacted really well to the surgery and he’s got no pain. I’m sure there is a chance to make that period shorter. If there is a person that can make that shorter, it’s Mikel.”
For Arsenal, the immediate message is that Eze is back and the wider picture may be better than Thursday’s training images first implied. Arteta did not show all his cards, but he gave enough to suggest Bournemouth may face an Arsenal squad closer to full strength than expected.