New Arsenal signing Mikel Merino expected to be part of the squad for PSG after training with the squad on Monday.
Arsenal signed Mikel Merino this summer from Spanish side Real Sociedad. But the midfielder was stuck with bad luck as he was out injured before making a single appearance for the club. Anyway recent reports have suggested that the Spaniard is in contention to make the squad for the PSG match. The Gunners take on the Parisians in one of the most anticipated matches of the UCL this season. It will be a crunch clash and the Arsenal new signing might get featured in the squad for the first time.
MIKEL MERINO AT ARSENAL
Arsenal were in search of midfielder since the transfer window opened this summer. Martin Zubimendi was on their list but since he stayed put at the club. Gunners decided to turn their attention to Mikel Merino who had an excellent Euro 2024 campaign with Spain. The Spaniard were who was a gunner since young age didn’t think too much and accepted the move.
The transfer was sealed for a fee just above 30 million pounds. The 28 year old midfielder signed a five year deal with the club. Unfortunately in his first training session, a crunch tackle from Gabriel Magalhaes injured him and was sidelined before even making his debut. It was a tough period for Arsenal as their captain Martin Odegaard also got injured. Anyway he is back in training and will be in contention to make squad against PSG on Tuesday.
The addition of Mikel Merino will be a huge boost for a struggling Arsenal midfield without their captain Martin Odegaard. A boyhood Arsenal fan Merino would see his dream come true if he could make his debut against PSG on Tuesday.
Anyway playing a full ninety would be daunting task and against PSG who are in scintillating form since the start of the season. They have a perfect record in all competitions. But last time out in the Champions League they needed a stoppage time goal to secure three points. We can say that this would be the first major challenge Luis Enrique’s side has to face this season.
ARSENAL INJURY UPDATE
As reported Mikel Merino trained with the Arsenal squad on Monday ahead of their opening fixture in the Champions League against PSG. So Merino will be in contention to make the squad but how many minutes he will get is not known.
But with Odegaard out injured it will be huge boost for the midfield. We could also see Arteta revert back to the normal 4-3-3 formation he used earlier.
Along with him Takehiro Tomiyasu was also back in training and will be back in squad. He can also be seen getting some minutes because Areta will try to rest some of his player. However Oleksandr Zinchenko and Ben White are out injured and will be unavailable. According to the Evening Standard
SQUAD DYNAMICS WITH MIKEL MERINO
Mikel Arteta normally used to play 4-3-3 formation but had to try out a different set up since they missed their captain Martin Odegaard who was at the focal point of their game. Nowadays he plays a 4-4-2 formation with two attackers and four midfielders.
Leandro Trossard and Kai Havertz used to lead the attack. It was not a fruitful set up for the team but they had to survive the loss of crucial players. But with Mikel Merino back, Arteta would love to revert back to his default formation. However, Merino will not feature from the start but towards the end of the match we could see the old Arteta’s gunners back.
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