Havertz, Sterling, White – Arteta issues fitness update ahead of Brighton clash

Mikel Arteta expects Kai Havertz to be available for tomorrow’s clash with Brighton after the German recovered from the illness that sidelined him for the New Year’s Day win at Brentford.

The manager also suggested that the bug, which had swept through the squad, is now under control, with other affected players making progress.

“The ones with the illness, I think they’re going to be okay, hopefully. They will train today, and if everybody’s fine, they should be available,” said Arteta.

Amid rumours of a toe problem, Arteta has taken a cautious approach with Declan Rice, benching the England international for two of the last three games. With Bukayo Saka sidelined by a hamstring tear, it seems Arteta is being extra careful with key players who’ve shouldered heavy workloads.

“In his [Rice’s] case especially, he plays so much football. We had nine games in this period, in this month, and he had some niggles in the last few games, he had to come off, and yeah, we have to manage every player, and he’s not an exception for sure.”

Saka’s absence has been compounded by a knee injury to Raheem Sterling, but there’s positive news on the Chelsea loanee.

“He [Sterling] is starting to do some stuff on the pitch, so that’s great news,” said Arteta. “As quick as possible, we want him available. Let’s see how he progresses next week and then see if we get him available for the following week.”

On Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu, who are also dealing with knee issues, Arteta added:

“Ben is still a few weeks away, and Tommy has done some stuff on the pitch. Now it’s [a matter of] seeing how quickly he can progress and how he reacts, but hopefully [it’s] good.”

As for White’s potential return within a month, Arteta was cautiously optimistic: “It might be a possibility, but obviously he hasn’t done anything yet with the team. The knee looks good, he’s reacted really well in the first few weeks. Everything is going smoothly, and now he needs to start to load that knee and get through many more things that, up to now, he hasn’t been able to do.

“Hopefully, he’s good. His work ethic is unbelievable. Naturally, he’s a really gifted player.”