ARTETA PROVIDES INJURY/COVID UPDATE ON DUO

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has provided an injury/Covid-19update on the defensive duo of TakehiroTomiyasu and Bernd Leno. Mikel Arteta gave the update on the two players during his pre-match presser on Friday afternoon ahead of the Brentford game this weekend.

Arteta and his Arsenal players welcome newcomers Brentford to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening in a London Derby encounter in the Premier League with the hope of avenging their 2-0 loss at the hands of the same opponents. Brentford made a big statement on the occasion of their first Premier League game thanks to the home win over Arsenal in what was the first game of the current season as far as Premier League football is concerned. Danish midfielder Christian Norgaard and Spanish fullback SergiCanos scored the goals either side of the interval to give the Bees a big win at the expense of Arsenal.

Arsenal are one of the favourites to clinch fourth position at the end of the current Premier League season and a win over Brentford will provide a boost towards the bid to meet that top-four target. Ahead of the game, Mikel Arteta informed the media that both Tomiyasu and Leno are available after missing the last Premier League encounter, a 1-0 away win over Wolves. The Gunners had to finish the Wolves game with ten men after Brazilian attacker Gabriel Martinelli was sent off for two yellow cards in a passage of play by centre referee Michael Oliver.

Japanese defender Tomiyasu has missed the last two games in the league due to the recurrence of a calf injury, but Arteta says he’s available for selection ahead of the home clash with the Bees. For German shot stopper Leno, he has recovered from Covid-19 and should make the squad for the Brentford game according to Arteta.