LIVE Premier League news – Arteta and Frank speak ahead of north London derby

Asked about Gabriel Jesus’ progress:

“He’s doing everything with the team at the moment for the last almost two weeks.”

“We’re going to give him some exposure as well internally with some games so he gets that fitness. But he looks really good in training and he’s going to be a big addition to the team,” he added.

In the space of this week, Arsenal will take on Spurs, Bayern Munich and Chelsea, which will push their injury-hampered squad to the max.

“We knew that was coming. It was again very intense but beautiful as well. We have a very tough start of the season as well, we’re ready for that. And now, have everybody healthy, or the most of them healthy, which is a key thing obviously. And then again, get in the rhythm, start to generate momentum again.”

“We are in a really good moment, and we need to continue to do that game by game because the games are going to be very thick and fast, and we need to be ready. Everybody has to be at it,” he added.

Manchester City take on Newcastle United on Saturday night ahead of Sunday’s North London derby and a win would put them just a point behind Arsenal, but Arteta declared he was only focussed on the task ahead of him:

“Everybody’s going to try to win every game, the same as we are going to do. We just have to go game by game, control the things that we can do, prepare very well tomorrow for Sunday. We have a beautiful game ahead of us, and that’s what we can control.”

Although Arsenal have won five of the last six North London derbies, Spurs look like a different team under new manager Thomas Frank.

“I think Thomas [Frank] has brought something very different to what they had before as well, and you just have to see his record and how remarkable a job he did in his previous club, and he’s given a very clear identity to the team, how they want to play, how they want to compete, and it will be very tough.”

Asked about long-term injuries to Jesus, Havertz, Odegaard and Madueke, Arteta has kept his cards close to his chest:

“Tomorrow we have another training session, see how some of them are feeling, whether it’s a bit too close to bring them in this game or we feel that they can have a contribution in the game. So tomorrow we’ll have more clarity.”

Calafiori left the Italy squad in the break, with speculation as to whether it was due to a specific injury or simply overload.

Arteta confirmed “he’s been carrying a few things”, which led to his return to North London.

“He hasn’t trained yet, we have a session tomorrow so we will see,” he added.

On the excitement and demands of the upcoming North London derby:

“It’s just beautiful especially when we play at home. We know what the team will bring in every single action.”

“It’s a game that required something else, emotionally. You cannot be too hyped,” he added.

“The game demands that in every ball and every action, it needs that little bit more than any other game. On Sunday we need a really good performance.”

Arteta has confirmed that Gabriel did pick up an injury while on international duty for Brazil, and will be out for a number of weeks.

The defender is due for another scan on Wednesday to establish the timeline for his return.

On the return of expensive defender Lisandro Martinez from a lengthy injury, Amorim stated;

” I feel Licha is coming close to being able to play. We need to be careful. He is clearly in a better position.”

When asked about his use in the team as a defensive midfielder Amorin responded;

“I can think a smart intelligent football player can play in a lot of positions, but it is not the position for him.”

We’re expecting to hear from Mikel Arteta very soon ahead of Sunday’s North London derby with injury updates on the likes of Martin Odegaard and Viktor Gyokeres, who are pushing to return from injury

Mixed news for the Englishmen. Maguire is confirmed out while doubts remain over Mainoo. Amorim stated that Kobbie failed to train today but is undecided on his involvement tomorrow.

Amorim has downplayed Sesko’s injury as not a serious one. Although he has confirmed Sesko will be out for “a few weeks”.

Some positive injury news for Spurs. Thomas Frank says Pape Sarr, Lucas Bergvall, Randal Kolo Muani, Radu Dragusin, Ben Davies, Kota Takai, Archie Gray and Mohammed Kudus have all trained ahead of the Arsenal clash.

Dominic Solanke remains out however.

Andoni Iraola has suggested it will be a last minute decision regarding key man Semenyo’s involvement in tomorrow’s match against West Ham.

“He was already dealing with an ankle injury”, Iraola said, “I cannot tell you if he’s going to play tomorrow or not. We will have to see.

“We have a couple of situations with the ones who have arrived late, we have to see if they are comfortable to help us tomorrow.”

We hopefully should have some updates from Mikel Arteta, Ruben Amorim and Thomas Frank pretty soon.

The 2026/27 season schedule has been released with changes made to attempt to relieve growing pressures on players in an increasingly packed schedule.

It kicks off on 22nd August 2026 and ends 30 May 2027.

The season will also finish one week before the UEFA Champions League Final, scheduled for 5 June 2027.

Boxing day fixtures fall on a Saturday with a more normal schedule of matches to return.

It’s been reported that Benjamin Sesko, Harry Maguire and Kobbie Mainoo were all absent from Friday morning’s training session at Carrington.

Sesko and Maguire both came off against Tottenham two weeks ago, with Amorim expected to give updates on his squad for Everton this afternoon.

Here’s the 9 upcoming Premier League press conferences this afternoon.

• 13:00 – Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Wolves

• 13:30 – Manchester United, Everton, Fulham, Leeds, Tottenham, Aston Villa

“It is impossible to measure what it does to the players and to our results.” Slot said, “The last thing I would do is use it as an excuse.

“I don’t know. What I do know is that we miss the player, that is 100% sure, and we miss the person, but I cannot measure the impact that has on our results.

“That is impossible for me to say and we will never use it as an excuse.”

The Premier League have announced that from 2026/27 they will bring in new financial rules: the squad cost ratio (SCR), which limits on-pitch spending to 85% of football revenue and net profit/loss on player sales; and sustainability and systematic resilience (SSR), which assesses clubs’ short- and long-term financial health.

Clubs voted against top-to-bottom anchoring, which ties spending power to five times the amount paid in prize money and broadcast revenue to the club which finished bottom.

READ MORE

“It’s not an easy thing to predict,” he said.  “In the last international break I said it’s just a question of two or three weeks.

“But now he’s getting close. He has to handle the pain, so it’s not a big issue, everything is healed, so he should be fine. We just have to see how he can handle the pain.”

Ruben Amorim will speak ahead of Monday night’s clash against Everton and is expected to give injury updates on Benjamin Sesko, Harry Maguire and Casemiro – all forced off against Tottenham before the break.

We’ll also hear from Mikel Arteta and Thomas Frank this afternoon ahead of the north London derby.

Eddie Howe also spoke to the media this morning and delivered some some encouraging injury news updates.

READ MORE

Benoit Badiashile is available again for Chelsea against Burnley.

“Moi [Caicedo] came back last night, we haven’t seen him yet, but we’ll see Moi in a while.

“But it’s good Benoit [Badiashile] is back, he can be available for tomorrow, that’s great news for us.

“And then Enzo [Fernandez] and Pedro [Neto], they used the international break to recover a little bit of energy, also to recover from the injury, the problems they had, and they are both available for tomorrow.”