Mikel Arteta could get Arsenal injury boost before Aston Villa as he gives triple update
Aston Villa will head back to the capital later this month to take on Arsenal - the only side who have left Villa Park victorious in the Premier League this season. Villa have enjoyed themselves against Arsenal in recent years and even completed a league double over Unai Emery's former employers last season.
The Gunners are currently the biggest challengers to Arne Slot's Liverpool, who have set a storming pace, at the very top of the Premier League this season. They prevailed 3-1 over Brentford on New Year's Day despite going behind, and they did so with a number of senior players missing. They welcome Villa on Saturday 18 January.
Arsenal are currently having to manage without talisman Bukayo Saka, after he picked up an injury which will keep him sidelined until March time. They've also coped without Raheem Sterling and defender Takehiro Tomiyasu over the festive period, too, as well as long-term absentee Ben White - Arteta has provided positive updates on the trio.
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"Ben is still a few weeks away," Arteta told Football.London. "It might be a possibility [to have him back before the end of January] but he hasn’t done anything yet with the team. The knee looks good, he has reacted really well the first few weeks, everything going smoothly and now he needs to start to load in that knee and needs to start to get through many more things that up till now he hasn’t been able to do but hopefully, he’s good.
"His work ethic is unbelievable, naturally he’s a very gifted player so I’m very positive that we’re going to have him quite early but I don’t know when. Tomi has done some stuff on the pitch but it was a long-term injury and we need to see how quickly he can progress, and how that knee reacts, but hopefully he will be good.
"Raheem is starting to do some stuff on the pitch, so that's great news. As quickly as possible we want him available. Let’s see how he progresses next week and then see if we can get him available for the following week."
