Mikel Arteta has provided injury updates on Gabriel Jesus and Fabio Vieira after Arsenal’s emphatic pre-season victory over Chelsea.
The Gunners produced an impressive performance in front of a record 63,811 fans at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium to beat a lackluster Chelsea side 4-0.
Jesus, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, and Albert Sambi Lokonga scored in the comprehensive win as Arsenal rounded off their US tour in style.
Despite the victory, there was some cause for concern when former Manchester City striker Jesus signaled that he had to be subbed off in the second half. However, Arteta has played down the injury fears and says his £50m signing ‘got a knock’ in the first half and merely came off as a precaution.
‘Yeah, he got a knock in the first half in his quad I think,’ Arteta said. ‘It wasn’t very comfortable to continue and obviously, we weren’t going to take any risks.’
Arteta also offered an update on fellow Arsenal summer signing Vieira, who did not feature in the club’s pre-season tour to America. Vieira suffered an ankle injury shortly after his 40m euros move from Porto last month but looks set to return to team training before the start of the new season.
Arsenal defender Takehiro Tomiyasu, meanwhile, could be in contention for the Premier League season-opener against Crystal Palace as he too eyes a return from the treatment room.
‘Tomi is really close to start doing some training sessions,’ Arteta added. ‘Hopefully, that will be next week.‘Fabio will probably be a little bit longer. I think he needs another week or so before he starts with the team.
‘But he’s been working hard and he’s been really unlucky to start his Arsenal career in this way but again, he’s fitting in well.’
Arteta was all smiles after Arsenal ended their US tour by thumping Chelsea but warned his players and the fans not to get carried away by the result.
Arsenal finished fifth in the Premier League last season, relinquishing a top-four spot to north London rivals Tottenham towards the end of the campaign.
‘I’m really happy, with the performance in general and with the tour,’ Arteta said.
‘The attitude from a club perspective to show here, and all the work we have done and understand how big we are and the amount of support that we get.
‘Then obviously the performance today is a really good example again, that we are moving forward, improving a lot as a team, but don’t get carried away. It’s a test match and there are still a lot of things to do to get better.’
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