Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has shared a fitness update on Martin Odegaard and Jurrien Timber ahead of the Carabao Cup final on Sunday (March 22). The Gunners are set to face Manchester City at Wembley Stadium as they eye their first title of the season.
Captain Martin Odegaard has missed six games across competitions for Arsenal since picking up an injury in their 1-1 draw over Brentford last month. He played for some minutes off the bench in the North London derby, but has been suffering from a persistent knee problem. Meanwhile, Jurrien Timber picked up an ankle injury during the Gunners’ 2-0 win over Everton in the league last week. He was unavailable for the Champions League Round of 16 second leg victory against Bayer Leverkusen this week.
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In his pre-match press conference ahead of the Carabao Cup, Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta shared updates about Martin Odegaard and Jurrien Timber. He said (via Standard UK):
“We have another training session tomorrow, so the ones that are in contention hopefully can give us good news. We have another session tomorrow, so let’s see if they can make it.”
In other words, neither Odegaard nor Timber is confirmed to be a part of the squad to face Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday. However, Timber was included in the Netherlands’ squad for the pre-World Cup international friendlies in March.
Arteta will remain hopeful that they will be available for the Carabao Cup final, even if they come off the bench. Meanwhile, the Gunners have major fixtures coming up, including the Champions League quarter-finals against Sporting CP.
Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta opens up on choosing his starting goalkeeper for the Carabao Cup final
In the pre-match press conference ahead of the Carabao Cup final, Mikel Arteta made his stance about choosing between David Raya and Kepa Arrizabalaga for his starting goalkeeper against Manchester City.
“We will see how everybody is (after training on Saturday), and then we’ll make the decision,” he said (via Arsenal’s official website).
Speaking of whether the choice of the keeper would make the main difference, Arteta added:
“No, because we don’t have that feeling amongst players. We really trust our teammates and in that case especially when you work with the quality of the keepers that we have right now at Arsenal. They played at the highest level with other clubs and they have the experience to deal with any kind of situation.”
Mikel Arteta has trusted Kepa Arrizabalaga to guard the goal throughout their Carabao Cup campaign. He has put on an impressive performance, maintaining clean sheets against Chelsea in the semi-final second leg, Brighton, and Port Vale.
Meanwhile, David Raya remains Arsenal’s starting shotstopper for the Premier League and the Champions League games. It remains to be seen who Mikel Arteta trusts to keep Manchester City at bay to secure their first title of the season.
Edited by Pratyasha Sarkar
