Mikel Arteta has provided an injury update ahead of Arsenal's clash against Brighton. The Gunners will face Fabian Hurzeler's side at the Amex Stadium on Wednesday night, as they look to hang onto their lead in the Premier League title race.
Speaking to reporters at the Sobha Realty Training Centre on Tuesday afternoon, Arteta confirmed that Kai Havertz recently returned to the grass. The Spaniard also ruled out Ben White, while giving David Raya the all-clear.
"Yeah, especially Kai, so he's done a part of the session so we will have to wait and see whether he's available and in which condition," said Arteta. "Martin [Odegaard] is the one. We will see. Ben [White] is not available."
On whether Declan Rice, who appeared to suffer a knock during the win over Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday night, is okay, the Arsenal boss said: "I hope so, he was much better today."
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Arteta also gave Raya the all-clear. Arsenal are unbeaten in each of their last five meetings with Brighton in the Premier League, winning three and drawing two. The Gunners haven't lost to the Seagulls at the Amex Stadium since June 2020, when Neal Maupay scored a late winner.
Although Hurzeler hasn't had much success against the north Londoners, losing three and drawing one, Arteta heaped praise on the German. The Arsenal boss said: "Very good side, the way they are coached. What they want to do, they believe in what they want to do."
Hurzeler was just as complimentary of the Gunners in his pre-match press conference. The Brighton boss described Arteta's side as 'the best in the world at set-pieces', but bemoaned the time it takes them to take corners.
"Sometimes they spend one minute to take a corner if they are leading," said Hurzeler, who's led the Seagulls to victory in each of their last two games. "The main topic is to make a clear rule on how much time you can waste for a corner, for a throw-in, for a free-kick.
"I think no-one recognises it, but when Arsenal have a corner and they are leading, sometimes they spend over one minute just to take a corner. Therefore, I think we just have to make clear rules. The game is changing so much.
"I have the opinion that every supporter who pays a lot of money to go to the stadiums and watch our games should see the same net-to-game time because they pay a lot of money.
"They want to see a football event and they don't want to see maybe 50 minutes the ball is in the game and 40 minutes the game is not. Therefore, that's how I see it, but I think we won't change these rules immediately."
On how he plans to combat Arsenal's physicality, Hurzeler said: "We have a way to defend corners, we have a way to defend throw-ins. We have a way to defend free-kicks and it's very important that you stick to it, you keep working on your principles.
"Because you can always improve these kinds of principles. If you always try to jump from one thing to another thing, then the players always have to adapt and they never get this deep thinking of our principles.
"Therefore, it's definitely a big strength from Arsenal. They do it in an impressive way this season. They have a lot of good takers, a lot of physicality, a lot of good blocks, so it's definitely something we have to take care of, but we will stick to our principles."
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