‘Worst part’ of Mikel Arteta’s job, Arsenal injuries latest, Gunners trio ‘desperate’ to play

Mikel Arteta has spoken on injuries and the worst part of his job ahead of top of the table Arsenal’s trip to Burnley in Premier League action this Saturday

Mikel Arteta revealed some intriguing Arsenal information during his Friday morning press conference with the latest injury news the dominant topic. The Gunners have been hampered by fitness problems all season, but excellent squad depth has seen them deal with it very well.

Bukayo Saka, Pierro Hincapie and Ben White are among the players to have missed action, though all three are back now. The likes of Noni Madueke, William Saliba and Kai Havertz are currently dealing with problems though and have already been ruled out of Saturday’s clash against Burnley.

Despite often having several first-team players absent for each game, Arteta is still keeping established names out of matchday squads and as unused substitutes. With all of that being said, football.london has pulled together the main comments from Arteta’s latest press conference.

Arteta reveals ‘worst part’ of Arsenal job

Most managers will likely believe that losing a game is the worst part of the job, but Arsenal and Arteta do not really know what that feels like. The Gunners are currently on an 11-game unbeaten streak with only one of those as draws. They also did not concede in any of their six victories during the month of October.

Making several changes to a winning team is ideally not something many like to do, but the fixture schedule often forces it. Arteta rarely rotates, but did make wholesale alterations against Brighton earlier this week and a number of strong displays could present dilemmas.

Likely with that in mind, Arteta was asked if picking the team was the worst part of the job at the moment with his response a telling one.

“No I cannot say that,” he told reporters. “It is the worst part in terms of the decision with certain players when you don’t allow them to play. I’m not judging every decision they make, at the moment we are dealing with it in a really positive way.”

“Well it’s an education that probably you get,” he added on managing players’ disappointment at not playing. “You know that 11 players playing, and another 11 know they’re not going to start the game.”

Arsenal injury updates

Of the five fitness concerns Arteta was facing earlier this week, only Saliba and Gabriel Martinelli actually missed out against Brighton and with their next clash only a few days later, it is perhaps no surprise they remain unavailable.

“No, I think we have the same ones,” he said when asked if there was any fresh injuries to report. “Martinelli’s still out. Saliba we have to wait and see. We have another training session this afternoon. And the rest is still getting closer. I think in the right direction, but not available yet.”

Both players picked up their respective issues in last weekend’s 1-0 win over Crystal Palace with Saliba forced off at half-time and Martinelli captured hobbling down the tunnel after the game ended.

Gunners trio ‘desperate’ to make returns

With the November international break on the horizon, the players that have been long-term injury absentees are more than likely targeting returns for the latter stages of next month.

Arteta had already revealed that the likes of Martin Odegaard, Havertz and Madueke were getting closer to featuring again. And when asked if the hope was to have them available for the north London derby against Tottenham, Arteta had some promising news.

“Yeah, I’m excited because they are tremendous players,” the Arsenal boss said. “I see them work every single day, how desperate they are to be part of the team.

“The huge boost that is going to be for the squad to have and those players again, after such a long, long time, so really happy that I think it’s going to be very soon.”

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