Mikel Arteta is ‘unsure’ if David Raya, Ben White and Jurrien Timber will be fit to face Leicester City this weekend, according to reports.
Arteta provided an update on his Raya in his post match press conference after Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup win over Bolton, while it has been reported that the Arsenal manager has also raised doubts over the fitness of White and Timber.
Raya missed the 5-1 win over Bolton due to a ‘muscular injury’ and Arsenal’s No.1 goalkeeper may be forced to skip Saturday’s clash against the Foxes too.
News of Raya’s possible omission – plus concerns over the fitness of White and Timber – comes after confirmation that Martin Odegaard is set for a spell on the sidelines.
It is becoming somewhat of an injury crisis for the Gunners, who are also without Oleksandr Zinchenko, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Mikel Merino.
Quizzed if Raya was ‘fine’ to start against Leicester, Arteta said: ‘We don’t know yet. He’s got a muscular injury.’
If Raya is unable to face Leicester, Arteta may decide to hand a debut to No.2 goalkeeper Neto.
Neto, who is playing for Arsenal on loan from AFC Bournemouth, couldn’t play against Bolton because he was cup tied.
That saw Arteta hand a start to 16-year-old goalkeeper Jack Porter – and the Spaniard was full of praise for the teenager in his post-match press conference.
‘Jack has been training with us since pre-season and we were confident that he could do the role,’ Arteta said.
‘Obviously, he plays in the [England youth] national team. We’ve seen what he can do and we believe it was the right choice.
‘We told him yesterday and he was over the moon straight away. I think he spoke to his family and they weren’t prepared for that. It’s a big step, it’s a big occasion for them and I think they were nervous about it.
‘But I think he reacted really well, he was really composed yesterday in training and today as well. His teammates really helped him as well on that. What an experience.’
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