Izuchukwu OkosiArsenal manager Mikel Arteta has indicated that his side could welcome back to the starting fold the trio of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Melgahanues for Sunday’s crucial Premier League battle against Manchester City.
The Gunners are atop the Premier League table with 64 points – just a point above City and Liverpool – but the last-season capitulation of the London side is not expected to be an issue this season.
To this end, the former Arsenal captain acknowledges the importance of standout players and offers some measure of good news for the fan base.
“Yeah there is a chance,” Arteta said in his pre-match press conference in response to the availability of his star men.
“They haven’t trained. Tomorrow we have another session, but there is a chance they can be available.”
Arteta used the opportunity to also address the knotty issue of fixture congestion.
“I think that in general the whole calendar has to be looked at because there are a lot of games. It doesn’t look like we’re going to be able to affect it.”
City manager Pep Guardiola meanwhile confirmed that the duo of John Stones and Kyle Walker have not sufficiently recovered from their niggles sustained in international games for England.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
