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Arsenal team news: Arteta updates on Saka, Aubameyang, Partey & more ahead of Chelsea

By on August 20, 2021

bukayo saka arsenal

Arsenal will be desperate to bounce back from last week’s disappointing defeat when we welcome Chelsea to the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

It will be our first home game of the new season with a packed house expected to await the players for the first time in around 18 months, however, Mikel Arteta has a number of team selection issues to contend with.

Pierre-Emerick Auabmeyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Willian and Alex Runarsson all missed the defeat to Brentford last Friday night and the club confirmed yesterday that the quartet all tested positive for Covid in the build-up to the game.

As per the update on Arsenal.com, Auabmeyang has been given the all-clear to resume training after testing negative and will be assessed ahead of Sunday’s clash with Chelsea.  Willian will also be checked over before the match but Lacazette and Runarsson have been ruled out of this weekend’s action.

Speaking to the media at his press conference today, Arteta was asked for an update on Aubameyang and Willian but the boss says he’s still not sure if they’ll be available against Chelsea on Sunday.

Bukayo Saka only made an appearance off the bench against Bretford having arrived back late to pre-season training but Arteta says the attacker ‘felt good’ after the match. Saka will be assessed in the next couple of days to see if he’ll be ready to start against Chelsea.

Uncertainty

Arteta told Arsenal.com:

on if Bukayo Saka is ready to start on Sunday…
Let’s see how he is in the next few days. He felt good after the match the other day but he’s in a better place.

on team news…
It’s still very uncertain. I cannot give you any answer today, because I don’t know if they are going to be able to train in a few hours, if they can compete at the weekend, I don’t know.

Let’s hope Auba and Saka are fit to start on Sunday as they were sorely missed against Brentford and we badly need a morale-boosting result against Chelsea this weekend.

Unfortunately, Thomas Partey will still be unavailable as the midfielder is still working his way back from an ankle injury that he sustained in pre-season. According to the update on Arsenal.com, Partey aims to be back training by the end of the month.

Gabriel is also hoping to resume training before September as he bids to return from a knee injury that he picked up while away with Brazil at the Olympics while Eddie Nketiah won’t be back in training until early next month due to an ankle injury.

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