Arsenal Lineup vs Crystal Palace confirmed- Martin Kai Havertz dropped as Zinchenko lost his place in the XI in a 4-2-3-1 formation…. latest on Jurrien Timber
Mikel Arteta says the Gunners are still ‘touch and go’ with a few players before top-flight return
Arsenal are sweating on the fitness of Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko ahead of Saturday’s clash against Crystal Palace.
The pair both missed the Gunners’ FA Cup third-round defeat by Liverpool on January 7.
Jesus is the most likely to return against Palace as he trained with the group out in Dubai during Arsenal’s warm-weather training camp after being sidelined with a knee issue.
Zinchenko has not played since the Gunners lost to West Ham on December 28 and has been battling a calf problem.
“We still have a few unfortunately on that list that we haven’t managed to get back yet, but hopefully they are much closer and some of them are in a better place than we expected,” said Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta.
“Individually I’m not going to tell you exactly how everybody is, but we are still missing a few. We are touch and go with a few, that’s what I would say.”
Arteta believes his squad will feel the benefit of their hard work in Dubai as they look to rejuvenate their stalled title bid.
“It was great, it was a phenomenal camp in every sense,” he said. “We worked really hard on things that we wanted to do, and we recharged our batteries.
“The context and the change in environment in beautiful weather helped, and the togetherness and the moments that we shared together were great. We feel fully recharged.”
Predicted Arsenal XI (4-2-3-1): Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwior; Rice, Jorginho; Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli; Jesus
Saturday 12.30pm GMT, TNT Sports
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Referee: Paul Tierney
