Arsenal's Key Players Return for Community Shield Against Manchester City
Mikel Arteta will have Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka back on duty for Arsenal’s first real test of the season – and the timing could hardly be better.
The pair are in line to feature against Manchester City in Sunday’s Community Shield in Cardiff, with Arteta confirming both are available after their post-World Cup breaks. The same goes for Martin Zubimendi, fresh from lifting the trophy with Spain in North America.
“They will be available,” Arteta said on Friday, speaking about Rice, Saka and Zubimendi before facing the Premier League champions. “They trained with us today, they will train tomorrow. If they are in the condition we expect them to be, they will be involved.”
The pressure of the summer schedule has been heavy on Arsenal’s core. Rice and Saka went deep into the tournament with England, Zubimendi all the way with Spain. Yet all three are now back at London Colney and pushing to be involved in the traditional curtain-raiser between the league champions and FA Cup holders.
Saka and Rice shake off last season’s pain
Saka was due back at the start of the week, but he cut his break short and returned on Saturday, as did Spain goalkeeper David Raya. That early return underlined the urgency around Arsenal’s preparations – and Saka’s own appetite to get going again.
Arteta will be relieved to see him moving freely. Saka spent much of the second half of last season nursing an Achilles problem, playing through discomfort as Arsenal chased silverware on multiple fronts. Rice, too, spoke during the World Cup about neural pain in his hamstring that had nagged at him since Christmas, followed by a calf issue and a bout of illness.
Those concerns have not vanished from memory, but Arteta is convinced the reset has worked.
“We haven’t noticed anything,” he said. “They have individual plans. Through the time they had with the national team they’ve been trying to evolve those issues and they have improved.
“In the rest period that they had, they both had specific programmes for themselves. They’ve been doing those and so far what I saw the last two or three days, it was really good.”
The signs are that Arsenal’s two talismans will not be carrying last season’s pain into this one.
Depth returns, but key absences bite
Arsenal’s squad is slowly reforming after a World Cup summer. Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke and Mikel Merino are also back from their holidays and all featured in Wednesday’s pre-season draw with Como, alongside Raya.
Not everyone is easing back in, though. William Saliba faces an extended spell out with a long-term back issue, aggravated during the World Cup but not requiring surgery. For a side that leans heavily on his authority in defence, that is a major hole to patch.
On the opposite flank, there is frustration too. Jurrien Timber will miss the clash with City as he continues to battle a persistent groin problem that has dogged him since March. The Dutch international did not play at the World Cup and only managed a brief return off the bench in the Champions League final in May.
Arteta has been cautious in his updates all week and stuck to that line.
“[He is] progressing really well,” he said. “He’s on the pitch, we’re ramping up now certain actions, especially the volume and the load.
“I think he’s on a good trajectory but still a few weeks to go. With Willy [Saliba], it is a more long-term injury.”
Asked if Timber might make it back before the international break next month, Arteta refused to gamble.
“I don’t know. We have to wait and see. He needs to start to train with the group in the next week or so hopefully and then see how he progresses from there.
“But obviously it’s been a long-term issue and we want to make sure that every step that we take is the right one. He’s such an important player for us.”
So Arsenal head to Cardiff with their midfield stars restored, their attacking heartbeat back early, but their defensive plans still patched together. Against a City side now led by Enzo Maresca, this is only the season’s opener in name. For Arteta, it already feels like a sharp early measure of how ready his reshaped squad really is.
