Mikel Arteta has Arsenal dilemma for Porto and Newcastle amid dual-trophy charge
Arsenal go into their UEFA Champions League game with FC Porto with plenty of momentum and a fear factor which should have Sérgio Conceição considering how he will stop this free-scoring Gunners side. Mikel Arteta meanwhile needs to navigate a tricky week in which he faces a tough test against a fully-rested Newcastle United side on Saturday evening.
Eleven goals have been scored in the last two games and Arteta named an unchanged team in both. There is scope for the Spaniard to welcome back a number of players with several having returned to training and some expected to soon.
Arteta said that Thomas Partey had already been training on the grass. Meanwhile, Fabio Vieira too is said to be ahead of schedule whilst Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko could be in contention as could Takehiro Tomiyasu.
“Thomas Partey as well is progressing really well,” Arteta said before the clash with Burnley. “I don’t want to say too much but he’s looking very good and he’s on the field already.”
He added on Vieira: “He's very close. He's been training already for a few days with the team. So I think it's very close. He'll be back probably faster than we expected and he's in a good place.”
With the potential for returnees and having already welcomed Emile Smith Rowe to the group there is scope for some freshening up of the team for the trip to Portugal. Jorginho got some minutes against Burnley and could bring some control to the midfield and the European experience that the side has lacked in recent disappointments during their Europa League campaigns.
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