Mikel Arteta has provided an injury update on Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres ahead of his side’s trip to face Sunderland on Saturday.
The Swedish international scored in the 2-0 Premier League win over Burnley last weekend but had to be replaced at half-time at Turf Moor.
Arteta later described Gyokeres’ issue as ‘muscular’, with the striker missing out on the midweek Champions League win over Slavia Prague.
The 27-year-old was not named in Sweden’s squad for the upcoming international break, and Arteta suggested that he will be unable to feature for the visit to the Stadium of Light at the weekend.
‘No news, we remain the same and nobody new that can join the squad so all the same,’ the Spaniard said in his pre-match press conference.
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Gyokeres joins the likes of Kai Havertz, Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli and Noni Madueke on the treatment table to give Arteta somewhat of a headache in attacking areas.
But asked if all of those attacking players would be unavailable for Saturday, Arteta responded: ‘I cannot confirm all of that, but you are not far.’
After the international break, Arsenal face a huge clash with Tottenham at the Emirates, and Arteta is hopeful that he will have some of those attackers back by then.
‘Some of them, all of them I don’t know,’ he added. ‘There are a lot of things that can happen in the next two weeks, and everything has to be perfect, but I think we’ll be very close with most of them to be in a really strong position.’
Without Gyokeres on Tuesday, Arteta opted to deploy Mikel Merino as a makeshift striker, a role the midfielder fulfilled at points last season when Arsenal found themselves short of attacking options.
And having scored twice against Slavia Prague, the Spaniard could well be entrusted with the role again on Saturday.
There has been some positive news on the injury front, with Gabriel Jesus pictured back in training this week after ten months out with a serious knee injury.
However, despite Arsenal’s lack of fit forwards, the Brazilian is unlikely to be rushed back into first-team action after his lengthy lay-off.
‘Now is about making the steps day by day, in a different surrounding,’ Arteta said.
‘Oviously, he’s been doing everything on his own, now he has competitive players around him, and see how he copes with that. But he’s full of reaction, I love the reaction of his teammates when he first joined us and great to have him back.’
A win for the Gunners on Saturday would move them temporarily nine points clear of Manchester City ahead of their huge clash with Liverpool the following day.
But Arteta is not getting ahead himself, insisting: ‘I’m just focused on tomorrow’s game. How critical, how crucial it is for us.
‘Every weekend is crucial, there are other times for possible results, maybe they are a little more important. But you have to be consistent regardless if you want to achieve your goals.’
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