Quantcast
Home   >   News   >   Arsenal team news: Key man faces late fitness test ahead of West Ham trip

Arsenal team news: Key man faces late fitness test ahead of West Ham trip

By on March 19, 2021

bukayo saka arsenal

Arsenal will be looking to close the gap on the top six with a win when we take on West Ham at the London Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Mikel Arteta has provided the latest team news ahead of the game and it looks like we came through the Olympiacos match without picking up any fresh injury concerns.

The Arsenal boss confirmed ‘everybody was fine’ following the disappointing 1-0 defeat at the Emirates last night – which saw us progress to the quarter-finals of the Europa League 3-2 on aggregate. Arsenal will now face Slavia Prague in the last-8.

Bukayo Saka missed the game on Thursday night due to a thigh injury that he picked up against Tottenham last week. The youngster was forced off at half-time during the North London Derby victory and failed a fitness test ahead of the Olympiacos game.

Arteta says Saka will be assessed over the next 48 hours to see whether he’ll be available for the trip across London to face West Ham on Sunday.

The boss told Arsenal.com:

on the latest team news…
Everybody was fine after the game, we will assess them this morning. Regarding [Bukayo Saka], in the next two days, we will know if he is available to play against West Ham and after that we will make the decision on what to do.

Let’s hope Saka is passed fit as I think we badly missed his presence in the final third last night. Nicolas Pepe played alright but Saka has been arguably our best player throughout the season and it would be a big boost if he can face West Ham.

Elsewhere, Willian will also need to be checked over after missing the Olympaicos game with a calf problem but otherwise, Arsenal have a fully-fit squad to choose from this weekend.

Arteta might look to freshen things up but I hope we see Thomas Partey and Martin Odegaard recalled to start as they made a big impact off the bench on Thursday night.