Arsenal 'hopeful' of major injury boost ahead of Bournemouth and Liverpool games but doubt remains

Arsenal have two major injury concerns as they prepare to face Bournemouth and Premier League title rivals Liverpool over the next ten days.

The Gunners have enjoyed a largely positive opening two months to the Premier League season and will return to action on Saturday looking to preserve their unbeaten record at Bournemouth after winning five and drawing two of their first seven games of the campaign. That has laid the foundations for what head coach Mikel Arteta will hope will be a more successful push for a long-awaited Premier League title after his side were pipped by former club Manchester City over the last two seasons.

However, with a hectic period of games lying in wait over the next month, the Gunners are awaiting news on the fitness of two key players after they picked up injuries during the international break. Arteta is already expected to be without influential midfielder Martin Odegaard for the games with Bournemouth and Liverpool, as well as the Champions League clash with Shakhtar Donetsk that is sandwiched between the two Premier League fixtures.

As per The Athletic, England winger Bukayo Saka is hopeful he will be fit to return this weekend ahead of the clash with Liverpool at the end of the month. His availability has been brought into question after he hobbled out of the Three Lions’ 2-1 home defeat in a Nations League game against Greece last week and was not Lee Carsley’s squad for Sunday’s win against Finland. The interim England manager, who will be succeeded by former Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel in the new year, gave little away of the injury in the aftermath of the Wembley loss. He said: “He’s being assessed. Obviously in the build-up to the first goal you can see he felt something in his leg.”

However, in a further concern for Arteta, Gabriel Martinelli has suffered a calf injury during Brazil’s 2-1 win in Chile last week and missed their 4-0 home victory against Peru on Tuesday. An update released by the Brazilian FA read: “Gabriel complained of pain in his right calf and underwent an MRI on Sunday night, which showed a small area of ​​muscle oedema. (He) continues to undergo treatment by the National Team's Medical Dept.”

Arteta will hope for good news on both wingers, who have been influential throughout the season so far with a combined five goals and nine assists in all competitions. There are several players the Gunners boss is expected to be able to call upon as Kai Havertz and Thomas Partey are both believed to be in contention after withdrawing from international duty with Germany and Ghana respectively. Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jurrien Timber and Ben White missed the Premier League win against Southampton prior to the international break but are all set to be in the squad for Saturday’s visit to the Vitality Stadium.