Arsenal will once again have to turn to an emergency replacement at right-back for Saturday’s Premier League trip to Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Gunners are missing Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu through injury and have now lost Jurrien Timber to suspension – the Dutchman was shown a yellow card on Wednesday night win over Brentford it was his fifth of the season and is equal to one game ban.
This sees Thomas Partey return to right-back on the south coast this weekend, which has knock-on effects across the rest of the squad by removing Ganco from midfield.
Partey has already played at right back several times in the Premier League, Champions League and Carabao Cup this season. Versatile defender Riccardo Calafiori is another immediate option, but the Italian started his first game since November at Brentford – and it showed.
Arteta is already dealing with a season-long illness that is plaguing his squad, which was the reason for Kai Havertz’s absence in midweek. The German appeared to be the worst affected, but the boss revealed that others who played against Brentford also suffered.
“It affected the players on and off the field,” Arteta said about the bug.
“It’s nothing serious. But it wasn’t an ideal situation. In relation to Kai’s symptoms, it was obvious. He wasn’t feeling well at all. He had very clear symptoms to stay away from, put him in the car, and go back to [home].
“Things like this happen. In this period, something is always thrown at you, infections, viruses, so I try to postpone the lineup as late as possible because you can get up in the morning and unfortunately have a surprise like this.”
Arsenal are next in action away to Brentford on Saturday night before the A’s first leg Carabao Cup semi-final against Newcastle United next Tuesday.
READ THE LATEST ARSENAL NEWS, TRANSFER RUMORS AND GOSSIP
