The Arsenal manager held his standard prematch press conference ahead of Arsenal-Leeds United on Saturday, October 10th. Mikel Arteta’s comments focused on player availability questions, but he was also asked about the Manchester City guilty verdict on 114 out of 115 charges of financial rulebreaking.
Arteta is in a bit of an interesting, perhaps uncomfortable, position with respect to Manchester City. After all, he was an assistant coach under Pep Guardiola at the tail end of the years under investigation
(2016-18). But he’s also the Arsenal manager, a club that was twice twice pipped for the Premier League title by a City roster built using the financially doped coffers built over a near-decade of cheating.
As you’d expect, Mikel Arteta basically declined to comment, citing the on-going process, the still-to-be-announced sanctions, and City’s appeal. Frankly, it’s a bit disappointing from the Arsenal manager. I don’t think anybody reasonably expected him to go in guns-blazing on his former employer, but something a bit more forceful than an anodyne “no comment” would have been nice. In the past, Arteta has spoken in terms of what is good for the league and the game. He could at least have said something about the importance fairness, a level playing field, and following the rules on a general, not club-specific, level.
I’d still also like for someone to ask him if he knew or suspected anything was wonky at Manchester City while he was there. There’s no chance he’d ever come close to answering that question.
Switching gears, the Arsenal injury news was okay, I guess. Christos Tzolis will be out for “weeks” with the hamstring injury he suffered last week but that’s as expected and fits the 3-week timeline that was initially reported. You’d expect Ebere Eze to get the first crack at the left wing spot, although I wouldn’t be surprised to see Noni Madueke play on his off-wing a bit, too.
William Saliba is the only other confirmed absence. He’s targeting a November return to action, although he may be out until early December.
Both Kai Havertz and Ezri Konsa face late fitness tests to determine their availability. Havertz had a minor hamstring injury and returned early from Germany’s camp. Arteta said he was in regular communication with the England camp about how Konsa was being managed.
Arteta is “hopeful” Declan Rice will be available for the match. The midfielder has been dealing with “a few issues” since the World Cup and did not go on international duty so that he could rest and recover.
Max Dowman, who suffered a contact injury on England youth duty, was confirmed available. Cristhian Mosquera, Ben White, and Piero Hincapie are all back in training, which is particularly good news given Konsa’s issues. It looks as if Jurrien Timber should be available, too. He played for the Netherlands during the break but had his minutes closely managed as he continues to work back from the groin injury that kept him out of the World Cup. At the risk of jinxing things, Arsenal may have navigated through their right-side of the defense injury woes.
