Arsenal's Key Players Return for Community Shield Clash Against Manchester City
Mikel Arteta will have Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka back at his disposal just in time for Arsenal’s first real examination of the season against Manchester City in the Community Shield.
The pair have rejoined full training after their extended breaks following England’s run to the World Cup semi-finals in North America and are in line to feature in Sunday’s curtain-raiser in Cardiff between the Premier League champions and FA Cup holders.
Martin Zubimendi, fresh from lifting the World Cup with Spain, is also ready to return. All three are in contention.
“They will be available,” Arteta said on Friday when asked about Rice, Saka and Zubimendi before facing City. “They trained with us today, they will train tomorrow. If they are in the condition we expect them to be, they will be involved.”
Saka and Rice back, doubts eased
Saka was originally due to report back on Monday, but he and Spain goalkeeper David Raya cut their holidays short and returned on Saturday. The competitive itch clearly hasn’t gone away.
Arteta has more reinforcements, too. Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke and Mikel Merino are all back from post-World Cup breaks and featured in Wednesday’s pre-season draw with Como, along with Raya.
The injury picture is not all positive. William Saliba faces an extended spell out with a long-term back problem that does not require surgery but worsened during the World Cup. Arsenal will have to start the campaign without their defensive cornerstone.
Saka and Rice both dragged themselves through the second half of last season. Saka managed a nagging Achilles issue, while Rice revealed during the World Cup that neural pain in his hamstring had troubled him since Christmas, followed by a calf problem and illness.
Arteta, though, is convinced the reset has worked.
“We haven’t noticed anything,” he said. “They have individual plans. Through the time they had with the national team they’ve been trying to evolve those issues and they have improved.
“In the rest period that they had, they both had specific programmes for themselves. They’ve been doing those and so far what I saw the last two or three days, it was really good.”
Timber still “weeks away”
The news is less encouraging on Jurrien Timber. The versatile defender will miss the clash with City as he continues to battle a persistent groin injury that has dogged him since March.
The Dutch international missed the World Cup entirely and only managed a brief return off the bench in May’s Champions League final. Arteta said earlier in the week that Timber was still “weeks away” from a comeback, and that timeline has not shifted, even if the tone is slightly brighter.
“[He is] progressing really well,” Arteta said of Timber ahead of facing a City side now coached by former Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca. “He’s on the pitch, we’re ramping up now certain actions, especially the volume and the load.
“I think he’s on a good trajectory but still a few weeks to go. With Willy [Saliba], it is a more long-term injury.”
Could Timber make it back before the international break next month? Arteta refused to commit.
“I don’t know. We have to wait and see,” he said. “He needs to start to train with the group in the next week or so hopefully and then see how he progresses from there.
“But obviously it’s been a long-term issue and we want to make sure that every step that we take is the right one. He’s such an important player for us.”
So Arsenal head to Cardiff with their two attacking pillars back, a World Cup-winning midfielder ready to rejoin the fold, and a defence still patched together. Against Maresca’s reshaped City, we are about to discover how quickly Arteta’s side can switch from recovery mode to trophy mode.
