Arsenal latest news: Partey's return | Rice injury latest | Timber optimism | Kiwior's future

Hello everyone, Charles Watts here. Welcome to another edition of Inside Arsenal. I hope you're having a very good start to your week wherever you're watching or listening to this around the world. We are now seven days away from Arsenal returning to action with that game at Nottingham Forest next Tuesday night. It's a bit of a shame we've got another free weekend coming up but I suppose we've only got ourselves to blame haven't we? Take some chances against Liverpool. We've got an FA Cup game to look forward to this weekend but it didn't happen so we've got another weekend off. The players having another bit of downtime at the moment. A couple of days off to start the week after the win against Palace at the weekend. Obviously they've been away to Dubai before the Palace game but they were working pretty hard over there. This is a couple of days to rest up ahead of that game against Forest and they should probably take advantage of it because there's not gonna be too much downtime between that Forest game and the end of the season but you think they're gonna be pretty well refreshed by the time that Forest game comes around. It's about one game in about three weeks and at this stage of the season in England that is pretty much unheard of. So I don't think tiredness or fatigue or anything like that can be used as an excuse for certainly for a little while anyway but the busy period of the season is starting very very soon. Quite a bit to talk about today. Lots of injury news to discuss. Urien Timber, Thomas Partey, Declan Rice of course who went off injured against Crystal Palace. Got plenty of questions and comments from you. We'll look at what's been happening in terms of AFCON and the Asia Cup as well with the Arsenal interests. Plenty to get stuck into and we'll start with some news that I have on Thomas Partey who of course feels like he's been out forever. He is close to coming back. We know that and from what I'm hearing I think he might well, the plan hopefully is that he could well return to training this week and that potentially could feature against Forest on Tuesday night. That is the plan. Obviously that can all change, it all depends how things go and the final decision has to be taken during the week but the plan as far as I'm aware is that he is to come back to training this week which of course will be great news if that is the case and it does all happen, everything does stay on track and Thomas Partey does return. It'll be fantastic news for Arsenal because there's no doubt they have missed him and if he can come back and he can stay fit then it's going to have a huge, huge impact on Arsenal's second half of the season because when he's fit and he's firing there are not many midfielders better than Thomas Partey in this league and it does also raise the potential, the possibility of seeing Partey and Declan Rice play together throughout the second half of the season which again is a very, very enticing prospect indeed. So he obviously has been out for a long time and Arsenal are going to manage this return to action very, very carefully. They're not going to take any risks if you know you get into the next couple of days when they come back from their days off and they think you know what no we still think you need to take a couple more extra days before we push you back then I'm sure they will do that but the plan as far as I'm aware and I've been told is that Thomas Partey is expecting to be back training this week and is still very much targeting being involved in the squad for the game against Forrest on Tuesday night so we'll remain we'll wait and see if that remains the case and if it is like I said it will be fantastic news but I would love to get your views on what you think what sort of impact you think Thomas Partey can have on Arsenal's second half of the season if he stays fit and where you see him playing and how Mikel Arteta you feel should use the midfield going forward if you've got Partey, Rice, Jorginho all fit you know who plays where with Odegaard and Havertz and Smith Rowe you know what is your ideal midfield three or do you think we need to see a bit of a tweak in formation can you play Rice and Partey together like we saw Jorginho and Rice play against Liverpool would love to get your views on it because it's going to be really intriguing to see what Mikel Arteta does going forward when it comes to these players when they are all fit and available and it's certainly you know he's got some really strong options there when you got you talk about Partey, Jorginho and Rice I mean it's three fantastic sort of holding midfield players there to choose between so yeah fingers crossed all goes well and we will see Thomas Partey back in action very very soon and on Declan Rice obviously limped off in that game against Crystal Palace mentioned the word hammy to Emil Smith Rowe Mikel Arteta speaking about him confirmed it was a bit of an issue said he had a sensation in his hamstring Sammy Mockbell at the Daily Mail reporting late yesterday evening that Arsenal are hopeful that it is nothing too serious and the initial checks on Declan Rice are that he should be okay to play against Nottingham Forest they'll continue to sort of check up on him over the next couple of days or so when they come back to London Colney but all signs are at the moment according to Sammy that Declan Rice will be okay to play against Nottingham Forest and again that's just huge news for Arsenal as I said in yesterday's show it would have been such a massive shame if Declan had picked up something properly serious and you know as we see sometimes your hamstrings they compete you can be out from three to six weeks to two months um you know if it was a serious one for Declan Rice just as Thomas Partey came back fit in one way yes you could say well at least Arsenal got Thomas Partey back but also it'd have been such a shame to see Thomas Partey back and then not have him alongside Declan Rice because that's been a partnership we've been waiting to see we saw it in the community shield against Manchester City but that's it so far this season and we've been waiting to see it and so it'd have been a real shame if Declan Rice had got injured just before I've been doing a shame just because if he got injured because he's such a key player for Arsenal has been so impressive this season but doubly so if it happened just at the time that Thomas Partey comes back so fingers crossed all is well and Declan Rice is going to be fine to play against Nottingham Forest and again fingers crossed hopefully might well be in the same squad as Thomas Partey it should be a massive boost and Sammy also confirming in that um report he did on Declan yesterday that you're in timber could well be back in about a month in terms of training which would be a huge boost and could potentially play up to the final couple of months of Arsenal season again with timber and I've spoken about it lots and lots of times and the information I have on it as well as it will be absolutely no risk and it's still a little bit too early to put a proper time frame on timber which is absolutely understandable because the second you put an absolute you know second Mikel Arteta comes back and says he's back in a month then bang the pressure is on him to come back in a month and when you've been out for that sort of length of time with an injury as serious as his the last thing you need is expectation and pressure so Arsenal is still very reluctant to officially put sort of time frames on this but he is doing very well he is progressing very well we saw the video that um Arsenal posted from him in Dubai I asked Mikel Arteta about it at his press conference last week and he did confirm to me for the first time really so far this season that there was a chance it was looking possible that timber was going to be able to have an impact on Arsenal season and so yeah we could only be you know sort of six weeks away really from seeing timber potentially in and around a squad for the first time what a huge boost that would be for the second half of the season so slowly but surely some of the injured players are beginning to come back we're still waiting for Fabio Vieira of course to come back he's still a couple of weeks away I think a few weeks away but he was over in Dubai doing some stuff in Dubai but again it was a you know quite a big operation he had to fix the issue and um but once he's back then you know fingers crossed if everyone stays okay then suddenly you got a lot of options for Mikel Arteta to go with over the second half of the season that will be a huge boost I mean we saw what Tim did in pre-season again it's very hard you don't want to put pressure on him when he comes back to be like you've got to be the player that we saw in pre-season because it is he's going to have to be eased in we've seen it with players who have come back from ACL injuries although when they first come back it's great they're back it does take them a lot of time to pick up speed to mentally I think get over you know those first tackles those first you know first proper sprints first proper twists in a Premier League game the pressure you have to put on that knee I think mentally is a big big thing and it does take him a lot of time to get back so even if we do see him say for the final six weeks two months of the season it might not be until next season that we really see him back to his very very best when he's had another pre-season under his belt but it'll still be a huge boost and when you look at what he does and what he offers to this squad the positions that he can play in will be massive for Mikel Arteta if he does come back so it is looking good on the injury front for now but as is the way he's got to wait and see we've got to keep our fingers crossed that everything goes well okay before we move on to what's been going on sort of internationally um dramatic day at AFCon yesterday unbelievable scenes at AFCon um reports in Italy just they're not stopping about AC Milan trying to sign Jakob Kvyat this month they continue to come out constantly constantly constantly that they're going to try and get in they admit in the reports that Mikel Arteta and Arsenal are very reluctant to let him go which is absolutely understandable I don't see any way this happens I say that it's always it's always a bit dangerous to say something like that because you never know in football but it just wouldn't make any sense from an Arsenal point of view and you know the messages we're getting from Arsenal is that there's going to be no significant departures this seat this window um you know unless an unbelievable bid comes in for a cert for any players then they might have to think about it but you know Milan trying to get Kvyat on loan until the end of the season even if there's an obligation in it it just doesn't make any sense because you're weakening your squad which is already stretched now Kvyat is already having to cover at left back because of the injuries to Kvyat or to Tommy Asu's issues the fact he's gone away as well to suddenly let a player who can play in those play left back and play centre back you know he's used again at the weekend it just would make absolutely no sense anyway his agent has been talking about it amid all the links to a return to Italy his agent's been speaking to Polish media and he said look Kuba is an Arsenal player there are no signs that they want to get rid of him and I don't think anything will happen in the winter window you know come the summer it might be different you might look at it he's been here 18 months hasn't really forced his way into the Mikel's plans on a real consistent basis you know I think he's a tidy player I think he's looked good especially when he plays at centre back um but you know if Arsenal if there's this interest from Italy does culminate in a decent offer coming in I'm sure they'll probably think about it in the summer but for the winter window as the agent was saying here it just looks really really unlikely and that's all I can say it's all it's the messages that I have is that it looks unlikely and I just can't see that it would be anything that Arsenal would entertain again unless a big big offer came in and that does not look likely this window mad mad day at AFCON yesterday if you're watching you'll know what I'm talking about just genuinely one of the most dramatic sort of half an hour or 20 minutes worth of football I've seen in a long long time with the Egypt game going on at the same time as the Ghana game it just looked like there was so many different scenarios happening and you know it looked like Ghana were through and cruising then Egypt were through and cruising then suddenly Ghana were out it was just unbelievable if you weren't watching Ghana were 2-0 up against Mozambique which looked like they were absolutely cruising to um going through to the knockout stages Egypt were losing to Cape Verde who were top at the table then Egypt equalized and that looked like it could be enough if they got another goal that goal didn't come and then in the last minute they scored to Egypt to go 2-1 up then there was a mad VAR check for ages for handball it was eventually given it looked like Egypt were through then Cape Verde equalized looked like Ghana were going through but then Ghana who were 2-0 up in injury time against Mozambique managed to concede two injury time goals and ended up going out or potentially going out there's still a chance they could go through as one of the best third place finishers that remains to be seen over the next few days but just generally mad I mean Elneny didn't even play he was watching on the watching it all unfold on the substitute bench and the drama the emotion through all the players you'd see the Ghana players were absolutely destroyed I mean earlier on in this in in the day I saw Ivory Coast who um who were beating 4-0 I can't remember who it was they were playing Equatorial Guinea was it they lost 4-0 in their home tournament it had real strong Brazil versus Germany vibes from the 2014 World Cup when the host just got absolutely hammered and went out in a heartbreaking fashion and that's what happened with Ivory Coast yesterday and the emotion of their players on the bench on the sidelines and then watching it all with that it was just it was just a mad day of AFCon football fantastic to watch not if you're a Ghana fan and certainly not if you're an Ivory Coast fan of course but the long shot of it is that Egypt are staying in the tournament so Elneny is staying in the tournament Mohamed Salah was watching um and Arsenal fans are obviously very very interested to see what's going on with Mohamed Salah at the moment he's got this hamstring injury he was over in Egypt for it he's now coming back to the UK to continue treatment it looks like the reports coming out of Egypt it is worse than first feared and he's going to be out for up to a month if that is the case of course that means there's going to be no Mohamed Salah for Liverpool against Arsenal even if Egypt get knocked out of the tournament so we'll wait and see how that progresses um but yeah just a crazy crazy day and um and yeah just unbelievable it really was just such a dramatic day's football in terms of the Asia Cup Tommy Asu's in action tomorrow I think Japan just need a draw uh in their game and then they go through to the knockout stages so fully expecting that to happen although they did lose to Iraq in the last game really surprising defeat there and they were well 2-1 in the end they got a late consolation I think last minute Endo scored for Japan but uh they need a they need a draw to go through tomorrow and that will mean Tommy Asu will stay for at least another week should that happen so that's the latest when it comes to AFCon and the Asia Cup questions times now from you guys plenty of you getting involved as always thank you very much always appreciate your response if you want to get involved in tomorrow's show and please do respond to the in the comment section to this video with any sort of opinion you have any question you want to ask about anything you've seen in this show or anything Arsenal related at all please do let me know in the comments below okay here's one from Paul who says hi Charles do you think if we sign Zouba Mendy in the summer that means one of Thomas Partey or Smith Rowe will be sold as I'm sure he wouldn't want to come in and just sit on the bench look I think there's a good chance that Thomas Partey will be sold this summer anyway um there was a good chance he would have been sold last summer but no bids arrived for him so he couldn't be sold but I think if a decent bid comes in for him this summer then I think Arsenal will certainly consider it he's only he'll have a year left on his contract he'll be he's well into his 30s obviously we know he's got his long line of injury issues and so it just makes sense that Arsenal would consider it I'm not saying they'll definitely sell him it depends on the bid but um if one comes in and it's decent then it wouldn't surprise me at all if Arsenal sold him I don't think Zouba Mendy I don't think Smith Rowe really matters in terms of Zouba Mendy um but you know Arsenal have to think long term about their midfield they've obviously got Declan Rice in there which is great and he's young but then you've got Thomas Partey in his 30s when he left on his contract um Jorginho in his 30s he's got well he's out of contract this summer but Arsenal do have the option to extend it they haven't taken it yet but I do expect that will happen I'd be surprised if they don't just because it makes sense to give him another year I think to keep him around for another year Mohamed Oneni out of contract in his 30s so they have to think long term they've basically just got Declan Rice as a long-term option in midfield at the moment for Arsenal if you don't consider someone like Sammy the Congress of course he's out on loan um he's in his 20s so they have to think long term about what's going on in midfield and that's why Zouba Mendy is a player that they're looking at one of several players that they are looking at um so I don't necessarily think if he comes in that means that someone has to be sold I think that's just long-term planning because players are going to be leaving over the next certainly year to over the next maybe six months but certainly the next 18 months when it comes to their key central midfielders um and so yeah um I don't think it's necessarily tied between the two but I do think there's a good chance Thomas Partey might well go this summer anyway just because of everything that I've just mentioned there here's one from Paranoid Android 1979 who says at the moment there seem to be lots of complaints about the atmosphere being flat compared to last season this is at the Emirates of course and also about a lot of people leaving early in games what do you think the club can do to improve the situation now and also ahead of next season are there people in the club who are looking at these issues and contemplate what needs to be done in order to get closer to the vibe of last season it's an interesting one look the atmosphere is definitely different from last season there's no doubt about it but I have to admit I started this season fully expecting that because last season and I've spoken about this before in shows so I'm sorry if I just sort of going over what I said before previously but it was such a it was almost felt like a one-off there was there was no way this season was going to match last season in terms of passion in terms of atmosphere it was we were all on this emotional journey last season this unexpected completely unexpected emotional emotional journey no one at the start last season thought what was going to happen what happened was going to happen if you see what I mean and then suddenly we were just all in on it and it was like my god Arsenal in the title race the top of the league this young team who we liked and we have a connection with but didn't expect to really challenge is suddenly challenging and we're all caught up in that emotional sort of journey that Arsenal went on last season but this season was always going to be different because once you've you know that was a one-off and once that season's happened then suddenly it's completely different this year is all about expectation it was all about Arsenal have to win the league they don't win the league it's going to be a real disaster not everyone had that but a lot of people had that feeling and you can kind of sense that in the games now you go to the games and all around you it's like if you're not winning it's like oh we're losing place we're losing position to Manchester City and it's just immediately that sort of vibe I think and so it is it is just a little bit different the expectation is different I think that's had an impact as I've said loads of times I think the absence or not the absence but the cutting of the tickets of the Ashburton Army has made a big big difference on the atmosphere that was so they were so influential last season absolutely and the fact that they've had their numbers slashed like they have has made an impact because they do drive the atmosphere there's no doubt about it especially at that end of the ground so I think that's had a that's had a lot and I hope that the club would look to maybe bring those tickets back I don't think they will but I really wish they would and I think Mikel Arteta would be very keen that they did as well because he worked really hard last season Arteta he wanted that atmosphere he talked about it a lot and he wanted that atmosphere but there was kind of disagreements between the Ashburton Army and the club over things um and you can you know depending who you speak to on either side of that you get different views of what those disagreements were about um I know a lot of people point to the ballot system as well in terms of you know who's going to next to each other so it's something the club will look at but um in terms of leaving early that's just always going to happen I think it just is it was a lot of people left early at the weekend and it's hard to criticize because you know it's a nightmare getting out of the Emirates at times I know that but I did think you know lunchtime kickoff you're probably not in that much of a rush to get home uh admittedly the game was done and dusted it wasn't like you know there was staying there was any jeopardy on that match there was three nil up at the time people started to think is that they missed two really good goals and so you do run that risk on it but um yeah I think there are people in the club who are looking at the issues they're looking at it and always trying to improve it but I'm not sure we're going to see a dramatic change I have to say and I don't think the atmosphere has been terrible there's been some quiet games like the weekend was pretty quiet but you know you go back to the big games earlier on the season and the atmosphere is really really good so I don't think it's just absolutely awful by any means I just don't think it's at the level that we saw last season but we've never seen it at the level we saw last season it was just so so different and unexpected here's one from eddie's playlist you said a lot of conversation about smith rowe rightly so nice to see esr with some minutes but arteta needs to be a little bit braver with his rotation five nil and still no time for reese either it's almost as if arteta waits till club's bid on squad players such as esr and kezia amn previously before he gives a minute surely we could have given sacca a rest at three nil up and given reese a run yeah potentially but I think what we you had to remember I liked it was good to give smith rowe minutes proper minutes it was good to give martinelli minutes and it works he's got his goal and that's those goals and hopefully that's going to help I like the fact that he brought on kivior and played him in the actual in his actual position albeit he's an injury force but you have to remember two of those substitutes were injury enforced so you know if he didn't have to replace rice or he didn't have to replace gabriel then maybe um reese would have come on for maybe 15 20 minutes or so but two of the two of the subs were enforced so he had to make those changes because of injury so so maybe so but look I do think yeah it would be nice to see some of these players give them minutes but you know resting players at the moment they've just had two weeks off they've got 10 days off now before not in a forest I don't think you're really in that position where you need to rest players right now they are very well rested um they're not going to be as well rested as uh for the rest of the season as they are now so I don't think it was any absolute necessity to take sacca off at the weekend but I understand what you're saying uh kyle says is there any reason we're not looking at calvin phillips on loan he's an elite player loan deal gives us cover so they can play that deep line role if party is going to be unavailable yeah I was talking about this a few of us sitting in a press conference before our testers presser last week at london colony and we're talking about calvin phillips now we think it wouldn't actually be quite a decent signing for arsenal but look is there a reason we're not looking at him I think I don't know if they would have been considering or not but I just don't think manchester city would even consider giving him to arsenal online why would they possibly help arsenal out for the second half of the season um you know a club that they're fully expecting to be going up against in the title race over the second half of the season I just don't I don't see why they would even consider that especially when there's so other so many other clubs that are in for calvin phillips so ultimately I think that's probably the reason even if arsenal did fancy him and did were interested in getting him over here I don't think it's something man city would even entertain at all because of the reasons that I've just mentioned all right that's it from today's show everyone thank you very much for watching and listening as always really do appreciate your time like I said if you want to get involved in tomorrow's show please do just hit me up in the comments below with your opinions questions comments anything like that and I'll get some of them into tomorrow's show until then everyone have a very good Tuesday be back tomorrow to do it all over again bye