Injury worries eased ahead of Bournemouth trip

Morning all.

Real football is back this afternoon, and we have a tricky game away at Bournemouth. The team news from Mikel Arteta was ‘vaguely positive’, if I can put it like that. He played down the seriousness of Bukayo Saka’s problem, and based on what he said in his press conference, I fully expect him to start later on.

He was a little more cautious on Gabriel Martinelli though, using the word ‘risk’ when talking about his situation, but with Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling and Leandro Trossard, we have options any manager would like to replace him on the left hand side. It sounds to me like Kai Havertz will be available, and on some of the defensive worries like Ben White, Jurrien Timber, and Oleksandr Zinchenko, he said:

We are getting stronger with the numbers, especially in our right side, but hopefully we have some positive news today and we have some players back for tomorrow.

So, I think one of White or Timber will start at right back, which gives the manager lots of options in midfield. Choose your trio from Thomas Partey, Declan Rice, Jorginho, and Mikel Merino who must be pushing for a start after some good competitive minutes for Spain during the Interlull. It’s nice to have these options, and nice not to be able to entirely predict what team he’s going to pick for today’s game.

The schedule is jam-packed now, with seven games to play in 21 days, so there is going to be rotation. A player who doesn’t start tonight could easily get the nod for the midweek Champions League game, and hopefully that competitive edge will present in our performance today.

Bournemouth haven’t had a great start to the season, but there’s no way Arteta will allow his players to underestimate today’s opposition. They look far better under Andoni Iraola than they did previously, they have dangerous players in wide areas so our full-backs will be tested, and on a tight pitch they’re more than capable of causing problems for us – or anybody else. Arteta says:

They are very well coached and they are super intense, really competitive and a clear idea as to how they want to do it. They should have had different results in my opinion, especially against the big teams and away from home. They’re going to be a big challenge and we’ll have to be at our best tomorrow.

While taking nothing for granted today, I do think a clean sheet would be useful. Obviously winning the game is the primary objective, but we’ve conceded 5 goals in our last 3 Premier League games. It’s not a massive problem, but I suspect the manager and his defenders would enjoy putting that ‘right’ today. As I said, it’s a secondary issue as long as we get three points, but with a tricky run of away games in this block of fixtures, becoming more defensively parsimonious would be a good thing.

As ever, you can join us for live blog coverage, as well as all the post-game stuff like report, ratings, reaction and more over on Arseblog News. We also look at the game and possible team selection in a bit more depth in our preview podcast over on Patreon, which is available right now.

For now, enjoy your Saturday and I’ll catch you later for the game.