The Arsenal boss has confirmed that Thomas Partey is fully fit and can play part of this weekend’s game against Bournemouth
Ahead of the weekend’s Premier League games, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has met and spoken to the English press as the Gurnners prepare to face Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon.
Arteta gave injury updates on several key members of his squad, including Ghanaian midfielder Thomas Partey as well as captain Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli.
Partey missed out of the Black Stars goalless draw against Sudan in Accra and the 2-0 defeat suffered in the reverse fixture in Benina, Libya since he complained that he was not feeling well and can’t board an aeroplane for long hours.
However, he has miraculously recovered from his illness few days after the international break and Arteta is expecting to start him over the weekend.
“Thomas is fit, yes [and can play against Bournemouth],” the Arsenal manager said.
On Bukayo Saka, Arteta said: “It’s not a serious injury. He has evolved really well. He’s done some things in the last two days. Obviously he wasn’t fit enough to play with the national team in the second game, but we are hopeful. We have a training session this afternoon. He did some bits yesterday, so let’s see if he can make it on time.”
He also gave updates on On Kai Havertz and added that: “He had a few issues and we’ve been dealing with that. He’s been absolutely brilliant. He has very good communication with the national team, with the manager and he understood the situation. Obviously we had to modify everything that we could do here and again, if he trains well today he has a good chance to be fit and available.”