Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is in no hurry to return Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to his starting lineup, as the forward continues to recover from his illness.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was hospitalized
Pierre-Emerick was hospitalized with a bout of malaria, which he contracted while on international service at Gabon, and missed nearly a month of action. But the Gunners were encouraged to see him re-serve on Thursday as he played the final minutes of their Europa League reverse at the hands of Villarreal. Mikel told reporters when asked about his star striker that he hasn’t trained much and is still not at the level of his physique to start. According to him, tomorrow they will see him again. Yesterday he could only play a few minutes, but they managed to get him to serve, which is great news for them.
They will see who is available
Arsenal, who went down 2-1 to Villarreal in the first leg of their Europa League semi-finals, have less than 72 hours rest before reserving against Newcastle United in the Premier League. Mikel Arteta admitted he may need to rotate his ranks to avoid fatigue, although Sunday’s victory is vital to keep their hopes of making their way into the top six alive. The manager added that they will see who is available and they again had a very demanding game, the boys had so many minutes, so they will evaluate them tomorrow in training and see how everyone is and try to get the squad right. He also said that The Premier League is a competition where it is not in their hands to get what they wanted to do, because they have other teams in front of them and the only thing they can control is their performance and results, and that is their main focus. Then they know that the semi-final is the crucial moment of the season.