Kai Havertz could be back in the matchday squad for our trip to Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday after Mikel Arteta revealed he has overcome the illness that saw him sit out the win at Brentford.
The German striker missed out on his first matchday squad of the season at the Gtech Community Stadium on Wednesday, but speaking ahead of the 5.30pm kick-off in the Premier League at his pre-match press conference, Mikel Arteta shared that he thinks Kai is ready to return, simply stating: “Yes, I think so.”
As for Raheem Sterling and Takehiro Tomiyasu, Mikel explained: “Raheem’s 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 this week and then see if we can go for the following week.
“Tomi again has done some stuff on the pitch but now because it’s been a long-term injury we need to see how quickly he can progress and how he reacts.”
There was also more positive news about Ben White, who has been out since November after undergoing knee surgery. Mikel revealed he is recovering well and hopes to have him back ahead of schedule if things continue on their current trajectory.
“Ben is still a few weeks away,” he added. “His knee looks good, he’s reacted really well, and in the first few weeks everything is going smoothly. Now we need to start the load and that means he needs to get through many more things that up to now he hasn’t been able to do, but hopefully it’s good.
“His work ethic is unbelievable and naturally, he’s a really gifted player so I am very positive that we’re going to have him quite early, but I don’t know when.”
Declan Rice came off the bench on Wednesday, with Mikel putting his omission from the starting line-up down to the importance of rotation.
“In his case especially, he plays so much football,” he said. “We have nine games in this period this month and he had some niggles in the last few games. He had to come off and we have to manage every player and there are no exceptions.”
In non-injury news, Jurrien Timber is suspended for this match having accrued five yellow cards.