Mikel Arteta has provided injury updates on Martin Odegaard and Jurrien Timber ahead of Arsenal’s Carabao Cup final showdown with Manchester City.
The Gunners are still chasing an unprecedented quadruple and can fight for the primary silverware of the season this Sunday at Wembley.
Arteta has been without his captain Odegaard for the last five games because of this of a knee injury suffered against Brentford. He made a transient return off the bench within the north London derby victory over Tottenham but has not featured since.
Timber meanwhile picked up an ankle issue in last Saturday’s win over Everton, missing the Champions League game against Bayer Leverkusen midweek.
Eze scored a sensational goal that evening on the Emirates, but was forced off late on with an ankle issue of his own.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference on Friday, Arteta allayed any fears of Eze, and was hopeful that Odegaard and Timber will likely be fit enough to feature at Wembley.
‘We’ve got one other training session tomorrow, so those which can be in contention hopefully may give us excellent news,’ the Arsenal boss said.
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Pressed on Odegaard and Timber specifically, he replied: ‘We’ve got one other session tomorrow, so let’s see in the event that they could make it.’
Arsenal are hoping to say their first major trophy because the FA Cup in 2020, and Arteta was keen to maintain his cards near his chest when it got here to team selection for Sunday’s match.
‘Everybody has been involved within the competition and within the last day when you may have the chance to be in Wembley, to offer someone no opportunity to be there’s difficult, so something to take into consideration,’ he said.
A very interesting decision for Arteta will likely be his alternative of goalkeeper, given Kepa Arrizabalaga has began each game of the tournament up so far.
Arteta’s opposite number, Pep Guardiola, confirmed that James Trafford, Manchester City’s backup keeper, will retain his spot within the starting lineup on Sunday.
However the Gunners boss was refusing to offer anything away about his alternative of keeper, insisting: ‘We’ll see tomorrow how everybody is then make a call.’
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