A round-up of the latest Arsenal news as Mikel Arteta lands a big injury boost for the visit of Newcastle United but is warned that five players are looking ‘weak mentally’.
Arsenal lead the summer transfer race for Brentford striker Toney
Brentford striker Ivan Toney is set to be at the heart of a transfer tug-of-war that Arsenal are leading this summer. That is according to Dean Jones, who reports that the Gunners are the favourites to sign the 27-year-old. North London chiefs have also made contact into a deal.
Arsenal are trying to stay quiet about their ongoing interest into signing Toney at the end of the season. But it has not stopped the Emirates Stadium side from making inroads into their pursuit. Toney has also picked up where he left off after returning from his eight-month ban.
Toney has scored four goals over six Premier League appearances since returning to captain Brentford against Nottingham Forest. Such a strong return has tempted Arsenal to advance their interest to now also head the pack, with Arteta chasing an out-and-out centre-forward.
Read more about Arsenal’s interest in Toney’s transfer from Brentford, here.
Arsenal quintet including Martinelli looked ‘weak mentally’ at Porto
Richard Dunne feels five Arsenal players, including Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz, looked ‘weak mentally’ in their 1-0 defeat at FC Porto. The Gunners fell to a defeat in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie this Wednesday as Galeno struck late into stoppage time.
Martinelli cheaply turned possession over amid a chance to hit Porto on the counter-attack. Otavio easily intercepted his overhit pass into captain Martin Odegaard before feeding it to Galeno, who placed a perfect shot beyond David Raya. Porto will visit Arsenal on March 12.
Losing possession in the final seconds was the last nail in the coffin of Martinelli’s display on Arsenal’s left wing against Porto. Former Manchester City defender, Dunne, felt the Brazilian looked ‘scared’ to challenge the Dragoes as the winger failed to record a single shot all night.
Dunne further felt Arsenal’s entire attack with Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard, Odegaard and Havertz failed to hit the right notes. The Gunners maintained 65% of the possession at Porto yet only attempted seven shots to Porto’s eight. They also failed to hit a single one on target.
“Martinelli looked scared,” Dunne said on Virgin Media Sport. “He’d get past one player and then dangle a toe in, and that would be him away from it. Kai Havertz was pulling out of 50-50s. They looked weak mentally upfront, that front five.”
Read more about what Dunne has had to say about Arsenal’s defeat at Porto, here.
Partey is ‘very close’ to returning from injury ahead of facing Newcastle
Arsenal boss Arteta has revealed ahead of hosting Newcastle on Saturday night that Thomas Partey is ‘very close’ to returning from his thigh injury. The 30-year-old has not played since October 8 after sustaining the blow during training shortly after returning from a groin issue.
Partey has only featured for 341 minutes across all competitions so far this season owing to his fitness gripes. He started the term as a makeshift right-back before developing a groin issue. A subsequent thigh injury requiring surgery would only add pain to Partey’s campaign.
Now, though, Partey is finally close to making his comeback and might return from his injury as Arsenal host Newcastle. But Arteta is eager to play his return with caution, having missed their last 23 games in all competitions. Arsenal will only see Partey return when he is ready.
“We have another session today,” Arteta explained in his pre-Newcastle press conference on Friday. “Obviously, he’s been out for many, many months now and we need to really nail the timing and when he has enough in the tank to compete. But I think he’s very close.”
Read more about Partey and Arsenal’s injury situation ahead of hosting Newcastle, here.
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