Mikel Arteta has issued the first fitness update of the new season as we prepare to face Manchester City at the Millennium Stadium in the Community Shield on Sunday (3pm UK).
Less than a month after the World Cup final, we’ll be back in domestic action with the traditional curtain raiser against the FA Cup champions, having won the Premier League title ourselves.
Despite the short turnaround from international duty for several players, the boss remarked how impressed he’s been with the overall fitness of our squad this week.
“I love the way the players have come back,” the boss said on Friday at the Sobha Realty Training Centre, “most of them [came back] earlier than expected, really fit with all the testing and they all seem in great condition.
“The moment they start to look at each other and look at the squad that we have and what we are building, there is a lot of excitement around it.”
Since returning from international duty, three members of our squad, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi are yet to feature in a match, sitting out our pre-season fixtures.
But Mikel feels all three players could be involved against City on Sunday having returned to training earlier this week.
“They will be available, they trained with us today, they will train tomorrow and if they are in the condition that we expect them to be, they will be involved.”
Asked whether any fitness issues could restrict Bukayo or Declan’s minutes in the early part of the season, the boss reported that he hadn’t seen anything to raise concern.
“We haven’t noticed anything; they had individual plans through the time that they had with the national team. They’ve been trying to evolve those issues and they have improved.
“In the rest period that they had, they both had specific programmes for themselves. They’ve been doing those and so far, what I saw the last two or three days, it was really good.”
While Bukayo and Declan are hoping to be ready for the start of the new season, Sunday will come too soon for defensive duo Jurrien Timber and William Saliba.
Both players suffered injuries over the summer, but are hard at work as they look to make their way back into the squad.
“Jurrien is progressing really well,” Mikel reported, “he is on the pitch, we are ramping up now with certain actions and especially the volume and the load.
“I think he is on a good trajectory, but there is still a few weeks to go. Wilo, as we all know, it’s more a long-term injury.”
Pressed on a recovery timeline, Mikel didn’t suggest a return date either player, but hinted that Jurrien is nearing a return to training with the rest of our squad.
“We have to wait and see. He needs to start to train with the group in the next week or so hopefully, and then see how he progresses from there.
“It’s been a long-term issue, and we want to make sure that every step that we take is the right one, he feels right to do that, because he’s such an important player for us.”