Morning all.

I watched Mikel Arteta’s pre-match press conference yesterday and he seemed pretty upbeat. He looked like a man who’d just had two weeks holiday.

Anyway, not only was he upbeat but the injury news he shared was positive too.

On Bukayo Saka:

It’s not a serious injury. He’s evolving really well. He’s done a few things in the last two days. He wasn’t fit enough to play with the national team 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.

 

Kai Havertz:

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. They understood the situation, we modified everything that we could do here and again if he trains well today he’s got a good chance to be fit and available.

Gabriel Martinelli:

Yesterday he went outside to do a little bit and see how he’s feeling. Again today will be another step to understand whether we want to take the risk if he’s fit because I know what the player is going to say – ‘I’m going to be fit for sure’.”

Ben White, Jurrien Timber and Oleksandr Zinchenko:

They are quite close, the three of them. Again today we’re going to have to try to push and see how it is because obviously we are getting stronger with the numbers, especially in our right side, but hopefully we have some positive news today and we have some players back for tomorrow. (Today)

Takehiro Tomiyasu:

It hopefully doesn’t look like a long period [out], but we have to see when he comes back and how he reacts to the load and to the impact on the pitch as well. We really need him, he’s been incredible. The work rate, the amount of hours that he’s put in to get back – he did it –  and was in great shape and then picked up something. We’re all behind him, he needs our support and hopefully he’ll be fine.

Lastly, Captain Martin Odegaard:

I think he’s not going to be fit for this game. Next week will be a different story, but again, in that later stage of rehab where he is at the moment, because he’s doing already a lot of the stuff, he needs to clear some markers, he needs to clear certain things, he needs to be comfortable doing things especially with the ball. I think next week will be crucial to understand how close he is.

Remarkably, we’re in the middle of October and Thomas Partey is still fit for duty and I for one hope he stays that way.

Today we face a Bournemouth team who’ve had a mixed start to the season at The Vitality Stadium. Against Chelsea they held on until the 86th minute before conceding what proved to be a winner from Nkunku but they have beaten local rivals Southampton 3-1 and held Newcastle Utd to a 1-1 draw.

Arsenal’s Adrian Clarke has a word of warning for Mikel Arteta’s players:

Playing out from the back is always fraught with danger when you come up against a team coached by Andoni Iraola. His style of play is built around ferocious, well organised pressing. This is why no one has had more shots from high turnovers (18) than Bournemouth so far this term, from the second highest tally of high turnovers (75). Care will be needed inside our own half. The Cherries are very hardworking across the pitch, so this is a contest where we must work hard to win the physical battle. Rarely out-ran, they will test our resolve with their high-octane approach.

Arteta himself said in his press conference that today’s challenge will be a tough one which to be fair, one could say the same ahead of every league game these days because it’s true. We made hard work of beating Southampton in our last match because they defended so well. Mind you, so did we late in the game. .

Antoine Semenyo is their danger man regardless of whether he plays as striker or winger. He’s strong, has oodles of pace and can score goals.

Just over a year ago, Arsenal went to The Vitality Stadium and thumped Bournemouth 4-0. It was a special day for Kai Havertz, who it’s fair to suggest, had been struggling to find form since his big money move from Chelsea. When Odegaard was brought down in the box and Arsenal awarded a penalty, our captain gave him the ball and the German buried his spot kick to make it 3-0. I think he’s done alright since do you?

Zinchenko, Jesus and Nketiah started the game last season and Semenyo was on the bench. Neto, ruled out for today, was between the sticks for today’s home team. We go into this fixture with a stronger and deeper squad than last season in my opinion but Bournemouth are stronger too despite selling Solanke. As Arteta said yesterday, they are better than their results suggest.

Enjoy the game guys.

Catch up in the comments…