By Betsefy
Arsenal have been handed a triple injury boost ahead of Sunday’s Premier League showdown with Manchester United at Old Trafford.
The Gunners are aiming to open a top-flight campaign with six successive wins for the first time in 75 years after already beating Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Aston Villa, Leicester City and Fulham this season.
Steven Gerrard‘s Lions became the latest victims of Arsenal’s superiority in midweek, as Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli netted either side of Douglas Luiz‘s equaliser.
However, Arsenal did not come out of that game unscathed, as Martin Odegaard and Aaron Ramsdale suffered ankle and hamstring injuries respectively.
Mikel Arteta affirmed at his pre-game press conference that the duo would need assessing ahead of the trip to Old Trafford, where Man United are aiming to record a fourth Premier League win in a row.
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The pair have seemingly been passed fit to take part in the contest, though, as the Manchester Evening News pictured both players arriving at the team hotel ahead of the game.
Ramsdale and Odegaard were also pictured in Friday’s training session, but the likes of Matt Turner, Emile Smith Rowe and Fabio Vieira are all still on standby if needed.
Furthermore, left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko – who has missed the last two games with a knee injury – was also seen with the squad, despite Arteta’s previous pessimism over his fitness.
“Unfortunately with Alex (Zinchenko), that’s still not the case. He’s missed two games and he hasn’t been able to train with the team yet,” Arteta explained to reporters.
Zinchenko’s inclusion with the squad could hamper Kieran Tierney‘s chances of starting for the second game in a row, but the former may be preferred off the bench given his recent fitness woe.
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Arsenal will definitely be without Reiss Nelson for the trip to Old Trafford, and Arteta did not have positive news to share on the conditions of Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny last week.
Elneny suffered a significant hamstring injury during the 2-1 success over Fulham last month, and Arteta has admitted that the Egypt international will take months to recover.
Meanwhile, Partey’s latest thigh issue will render him unavailable for a number of weeks, meaning Albert Sambi Lokonga could be handed another start in the middle alongside Granit Xhaka.
Arteta’s men will move four points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table with victory at Old Trafford after Pep Guardiola‘s side could only draw 1-1 with Villa on Saturday.
