Mikel Arteta was a happy man following Arsenal’s 3-1 victory over Brentford on New Year’s Day and even more so because his squad overcome a sickness bug to put in a superb performance away from home.
Goals from Gabriel Jesus, Mikel Merino and Gabriel Martinelli ensured the Gunners moved back up to second in the Premier League table and continued to put pressure on league leaders Liverpool who are now just six points ahead of Arteta’s side.
Kai Havertz was surprisingly left out of the Arsenal squad for the match against Brentford but it was reported that the German forward had caught a sickness bug that struck other players in the squad as well.
Arteta confirmed as much in his post match press conference saying the illness affected his players “on the pitch and off the pitch”. Speaking specifically on Havertz’s omission from the squad Arteta revealed: “With Kai [Havertz] it was obvious. He wasn’t feeling well at all and he had very clear symptoms so stay away from it, put him in a car and go back to home.”
When asked if the bug was disruptive to Arsenal’s plans and preparation, Arteta seemed to downplay the severity of the sickness and claimed that the team were prepared for such things, especially at this time of year.
“These things happen in this period, there is always things. Throat, infection, viruses so I try to delay the line-up as far as possible because you can get up in the morning and you can have a surprise unfortunately.
“I hope so [the affected players will be back soon], it’s nothing serious but they weren’t in the ideal condition to play today.
“I leave [protocol for illness] to the doctor. Obviously it’s in relation to the symptoms that they have. I think [Havertz will be fit for the next game]. I think he will recover very quickly.”
Arsenal face Brighton in the late kick off on Saturday as they look to keep up their momentum in the league before a Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Newcastle on Tuesday 7 January.