Arsenal defenders Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori were left out of the Gunners' pre-season win over Bayer Leverkusen as a precaution, manager Mikel Arteta said.
Netherlands international Timber has spent almost the entire 2023-24 campaign with a knee injury, while Calafiori joined on July 29 from Bologna for a fee of up to £42 million.
“Jurrien has had discomfort in his foot for the last few days,” Arteta said after the 4-1 win over the reigning German champions at the Emirates Stadium. “After the time we've been out, we didn't want to take any risks with him.
“Regarding Riccardo, a lot has happened to him in one week. He came to a new place with a different approach and different training so we treat him and we want to do it slowly and in the best possible way. “
A polished pre-season performance 💫 pic.twitter.com/UCHtB47jq1
– Arsenal (@Arsenal) August 7, 2024
The original Calafiori Arsenal
Arteta said he hoped Calafiori “will be available to play some minutes” when Arsenal host Lyon on Sunday (2pm BST) in their final game before their Premier League campaign kicks off at home to Wolves on August 17 (3pm).
Gabriel Jesus' performance against Leverkusen, which included a long-range strike to make it 3-0 after 38 minutes, impressed Arteta.
“The first feeling when I saw him after speaking to him at the end of the season was that he was something different,” Arteta said of the striker, who has not scored in a competitive game since January.
“I could hear it. His strength was different, the way he looked was different, the way he walked was different. You really want it. Now it's about finding that consistency and doing it in any context, against any opponent, any formation, any day, every three days, 90 minutes, 30 minutes, 70 minutes. If you produce in those conditions? It looks good.”
Home again. ❤️ @Arsenal pic.twitter.com/NyCApRUHH9
– Leandro Trossard (@LTrossard) August 7, 2024
Arsenal vs Leverkusen goals
Oleksandr Zinchenko put Arsenal ahead after eight minutes against Leverkusen, with the deficit doubled a minute later through Leandro Trossard.
After Jesus scored, Kai Havertz scored for the second time in the friendly matches to put the hopefuls of this title 4-0 after 65 minutes.
Arteta would not be impressed by the fact that backup striker Eddie Nketiah, who rarely featured in the second half of last season and was an unused substitute in nine of Arsenal's last 12 games, is set to leave the club.
“We can't talk about things like that,” said Arteta. “He played a few minutes today, he is a player who contributed a lot. We love him very much and at the moment there is nothing we can discuss.”
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