Ahead of our crucial meeting with Newcastle United on Monday night, Mikel Arteta issued an update on the state of his squad in his pre-match press conference.
The boss was asked about Ben White, who has missed the past three games, and Gabriel, who was taken off during our defeat against Tottenham.
Here’s what he said:
on which of our defenders are fit...
It's a good question! We will know probably more tomorrow, so we wanted to extend this period as much as possible to understand how they are recovering, how they are feeling, assess them and tomorrow probably we will know more about how they are.
on which players he is waiting for more news on...
Yes, Ben and Gabi.
on how we might adjust to more injuries...
We will have to modify certain positions to try to make it work, because we don't have more defenders and even though we have academy players, they haven't experienced a lot of those positions because they're not specified central defenders, so it's something that we will try to find a way.
on how likely it is that White and Gabriel will be fit...
I could [give you an estimate], but I will probably be telling you whatever! Tomorrow will be the day we will have better answers, probably not the answers that we want until matchday, but hopefully better answers.
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