The final two pre-match press conferences for Gameweek 26 take place today – not that Fantasy managers can do much with any fresh team news.
We’ll have updates from Mikel Arteta and Keith Andrews below.
KEY GAMEWEEK 26 INJURY NEWS FROM WEDNESDAY
- Arsenal: Arteta coy on injuries, only Dowman + Merino ruled out
- Brentford: Schade banned, Nelson ineligible, three still out
ARSENAL
Predictably, Arteta didn’t give us much on Bukayo Saka (hip), Martin Odegaard (muscle) or Leandro Trossard (muscle).
He’d only confirm that Mikel Merino (foot) and Max Dowman (ankle) were out.
“Max is still not available. The rest, we will see when we make the medical meeting.” – Mikel Arteta
“He’s doing very well, I think he will be with us in a week or so and then he just needs to pick up the rhythm and be available for us.” – Mikel Arteta on Max Dowman
“I think the doctors were really happy the way it went. It’s obviously a long process. You’re talking about bone healing, so you need to be patient and respect the timings. I’m sure Mikel is going to do everything that he possibly can to speed up that recovery.
“The timeframes, we’re talking about months. Whether it’s three, four or five, we don’t know.” – Mikel Arteta on Mikel Merino’s surgery
BRENTFORD
Kevin Schade serves game two of a three-match ban (the third fixture will be Monday’s FA Cup clash with Macclesfield), while loanee Reiss Nelson is ineligible to face his parent club.
Josh Dasilva, Fábio Carvalho and Antoni Milambo all remain out with knee injuries.
As for new concerns, Andrews doesn’t have any major worries for the visit of the league leaders.
“Pretty good. Obviously, a very intense game [on Saturday], always is when you play Newcastle. The players, I thought, were excellent on that front. The usual knocks and bruises, but nothing major where it concerns anything for the selection for tomorrow.” – Keith Andrews on the latest team news
