Charles Watts has been speaking on the latest video on his YouTube channel, where he provided an injury update on two of Arsenal’s key players; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Martin Odegaard.
The Gunners take on Czech outfit Slavia Prague in the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final tie tonight but may have to do so without the influential pair.
Aubameyang missed the north London outfit’s victory over Sheffield United last time out through illness, while Odegaard was unavailable due to an ankle injury.
Mikel Arteta’s men drew the first leg 1-1 at the Emirates Stadium after Tomas Holes’ injury-time equaliser, and their task appears to have been made even harder after Watts confirmed the pair were absent from Arsenal’s latest training session.
Speaking this afternoon, he said: “The big players need to play well for Arsenal tonight. But, are a couple of them going to play? It’s looking unlikely with Aubameyang and Martin Odegaard. Not sure yet, not confirmed yet, but they weren’t involved in training, or unless Arsenal deliberately didn’t have them pictured in training yesterday to maybe pull off a surprise in the team news tonight.
“They didn’t look like they were involved at London Colney, Aubameyang obviously missing out on Sunday night through illness. Odegaard has been struggling with that ankle injury. Bukayo Saka did train, Emile Smith Rowe did train, so that’s good, but wasn’t any sign of Odegaard or Aubameyang.
“Arsenal haven’t released a travelling squad yet. The players who have gone, none of the pictures came out, as usually happens in terms of who got on the plane, that sort of thing. So maybe they’re pulling in a little bit of a fast one. But certainly, the team news seems to suggest that Arsenal may well be without their captain and without Martin Odegaard once again.”
TIF Thoughts on Arsenal’s lineup…
Arsenal coped with Aubameyang and Odegaard admirably over the weekend, comfortably seeing off the Blades 3-0 at Bramall Lane.
However, Slavia Prague will pose a much bigger threat than the struggling South Yorkshire side, having already seen off Rangers and Leicester City in previous rounds of the competition.
Gabriel Martinelli made his first league start since January on Sunday and marked his return with a goal, and the young Brazilian could be relied upon to provide the firepower for Arsenal once again in Aubameyang and Odegaard’s absence.
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