Arteta offers update on defensive trio’s fitness

Mikel Arteta has provided an update on the fitness of defensive trio Jurrien Timber, Ben White and Cristhian Mosquera.

Speaking during Friday’s press conference, Arteta was first asked about the likelihood of White being involved in Arsenal’s trip to his former club Brighton on Saturday, and feels the England defender should be ready to go.

“Everyone is fine, we have another training session this (Friday) afternoon so we are very positive about everyone,” he told arsenal.com.

In addition to White, the coach stated that Timber, Mosquera and Piero Hincapié are progressing well and could be present in Saturday’s game.

“We have another session, everyone is willing to be part of it to try to make sure they are fit.”

With a huge squad to choose from, the boss has been balancing new signings with existing squad members, which has seen several players deployed in multiple positions.

Eberechi Eze started on the left against Ipswich Town on Tuesday night and Mikel was impressed with what he saw.

“He’s always played there in his career, that’s where all the biggest moments of his career and the biggest moments of his career have come.

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“I think it’s a place where he feels very, very, very comfortable. He can occupy different spaces, but that is the space where he has generally created great moments for previous clubs, as well as winning games.”

Eze will be one of several first-team players joining his national team after the trip to Brighton on Saturday, with a newly extended international break leaving the men’s team out of action until October 10.

While this creates a significant change to the early-season schedule, Arteta is keeping an open mind about how it will play out.

“We’ll see how it turns out,” he said, “I think every national team is different.

“Some are playing in Europe and some are traveling around the world for two and a half weeks, so we have to wait and see how they do.”