‘He’ll be alright’: Mikel Arteta will start £35m Arsenal player vs Saints, he’s back from injury – journalist

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Oleksandr Zinchenko could’ve played against West Ham United, but Arsenal decided to be cautious with the Ukrainian. However, he’s now in line to start against Southampton on Friday.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Charles Watts shared an update on the left-back and he says that Zinchenko should be back in the XI against the Saints.

Interestingly, Watts also noted that the full-back could have played against West Ham if he was patched up and thrown out there, but the Gunners decided to err on the side of caution and rest the Ukrainian after he picked up an injury against Liverpool the week before.

Zinchenko in line to start

Watts shared what he’s heard about the £35m Arsenal star.

“Zinchenko is definitely more positive. I’m expecting Zinchenko to play against Southampton on Friday night. He did travel with the squad to West Ham, he was there. The expectation is he will be alright. From what I’ve been told they could’ve patched him up and played him against West Ham, but they chose not to to err on the side of caution. The expectation is that he’ll be back to play on Friday night,” Watts said.

Right decision

While Arsenal may have drawn against West Ham, resting Zinchenko for this game should ultimately prove to be the right call in the long-term.

The left-back was clearly a bit fragile after his injury against Liverpool, and re-aggravating such an issue would have had a severe knock-on effect on the Gunners’ season.

Now, Zinchenko should be able to play the final seven games of this campaign without any issues and his presence will be crucial as we enter the business end of the season with a title on the line.

Injury management is key at this moment in time, and, luckily, Arsenal seem to have managed Zinchenko correctly here.