Arteta Wary Of Dangerous Crystal Palace

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has warned his players they will have their hands full when they face a dangerous Crystal Palace side.

A resurgent Arsenal side will return to Premier League action on Thursday when they will host Palace at the Emirates.

The Gunners recorded victories in their last three league games against Chelsea, Brighton and West Bromwich Albion.

And Arteta has said they expect a difficult fixture against the London club.

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“They are a really dangerous side and they have shown that against big teams,” the Spanish coach said in Monday’s press conference.

“They are a really compact and organised team and you know what you’re going to expect. They have players with a big individual talent that just need moments to win games, to create actions that can unbalance the game so we have to be very careful with that. 

“Then, we have to play to be dominant again in the game. We go from the first minute to try to win the game, to attack them and be cautious as well of the strengths that they have and try to control them as much as possible.”

Arteta gave the latest on Gabriel and revealed Thomas Partey could return to action after recovering from injury. 

“Well, Gabriel had a training session the other day. He tested positive and had very mild symptoms, so he’s missed a few weeks of training because he had to be isolated. It’s better now and we expect him to be training with us in the next couple of days and then make an assessment on whether we can have him or not on Thursday. 

“Thomas has been in full training for the last four or five days, he’s completely asymptomatic. It would be a little bit rushed to try and play him against Newcastle but I think he will be ready for Thursday.”

And on Gabriel Martinelli:”We don’t know how bad he is. He’s getting a scan this morning. We didn’t look after the game because he was in a lot of pain but yesterday he tested it a little bit better, so let’s hope. We have a scan today so let’s hope it’s not as serious and we can have Gabi back really soon. We will know more tomorrow, certainly.”