Arsenal star now ‘days away’ from timely return as injury latest shows who’s fit for Brighton
Mikel Arteta and Arsenal are set to benefit from a major fitness boost as they look to maintain their Premier League title challenge into a busy festive period, with a clash against Brighton next.
Arsenal star Kai Havertz is just days away from returning to the matchday squad, according to Gunners boss Mikel Arteta. The Germany international has not played since August after undergoing surgery on a knee injury.
There was some hope the 26-year-old could return to action sooner, but Germany manager Julian Nagelsmann revealed the striker suffered a setback earlier this month. Havertz was back in full first-team training ahead of the Gunners’ Carabao Cup clash with Crystal Palace.
“I think it will be a matter of days or even weeks,” Arteta said when asked about Havertz’s injury. “Let’s see in the next step how he reacts to this.
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“He’s a player we missed a lot, a player who takes the team to another dimension. So, I’m really happy to have him back very soon.”
The Gunners could also welcome back defender Gabriel Magalhaes in the coming weeks, after the defender missed the last nine games with a hamstring injury picked up on international duty for Brazil.
“We will have to wait and see,” Arteta said of the Brighton defender. “He hasn’t trained yet, he’s still in rehabilitation.
“But I hope as quickly as possible because we know the situation we are in defensively.”
Arsenal will be without Cristhian Mosquera, Ben White and Piero Hincapie for the clash with Brighton, while Max Dowman is also expected to miss the match.
Gabriel Martinelli picked up a knock in his last outing, but Arteta hopes he will feature this weekend.
He said: “Martinelli is more of a hitter, and he wasn’t comfortable continuing after the second half.”
Arsenal have been able to welcome Gabriel Jesus back into their squad in recent weeks, much earlier than expected.
“He’s very fit,” Arteta said. “We gradually increased his minutes. But (against Crystal Palace) as long as he was doing well, everyone was happy to let him continue.
“When we are in fatigue mode, we took it out, but we are very happy.”
Arsenal are top of the table heading into the new year, but they could be knocked out of top spot with Man City in action in tomorrow’s kick-off against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.