Mikel Arteta vows to CONTINUE to keep rivals with guessing over Arsenal’s squad fitness after springing Bukayo Saka surprise against Liverpool

Mikel Arteta has vowed to keep playing mind games with his rival managers over the fitness of Arsenal’s injured stars.

Bukayo Saka made a surprise start against Liverpool despite Arteta saying in the build-up the winger was ‘very uncertain’ to feature.

Mail Sport revealed over the weekend that Arteta’s repeated cloak of secrecy is a ploy to gain an edge over his opponents and now the Gunners boss has confirmed he will continue to keep everyone guessing – even his own players.

‘I don’t want to make it easy for anyone,’ said Arteta. ‘The opponent has to work and think and prepare and make sure they do their homework like I have to. I wish I knew their starting XI, who is on the bench, but I don’t. It is our job to guess and do the work we have to do.

‘I will tell you everything but that has consequences. I need to be very careful because sometimes I can tell you a player is going to be a few weeks but is a few months. Sometimes I don’t know if a player is going to be fit in two days’ time or when the press conference is. 

Bukayo Saka played and scored against Liverpool on Sunday despite Arteta saying he was ‘very uncertain’ to feature in the build-up to the blockbuster fixture at the Emirates Stadim

‘When I know, I am not going to lie to you, I am not going to say “he’s not fit” and then I play him, I would never do that but if I am certain or I don’t want to tell you, I will keep you guessing. This is my job. But as well to keep all my guys, everyone alert as well, that is important.’

Arteta, if you believe him, has been handed a triple injury boost ahead of a gruelling run of four away games starting at Preston in the League Cup before trips to Newcastle, Inter Milan in the Champions League, and Chelsea.

‘We are still assessing Gabriel but it doesn’t look bad at all,’ said Arteta. ‘He was much better the next day so hopefully he will be fine. He has had some tests.

‘Jurrien is fine. He was very tired, he had been out for a while and could not continue the game but there is no new injury there at all. He could not continue so we decided to make a very safe call. But he was fine.’

Arteta is hopeful Odegaard will return to action before the international break. ‘He’s been on the grass for a few weeks, but there is still a few boxes to tick,’ he added. ‘How fast we can do that last stage of the rehab is a question we’ll have to answer once we have players around him and he starts competing with the team. He hasn’t done that yet.’

There was, however, bad news for Riccardo Calafiori who looks set to be sidelined for ‘a few weeks’ after picking up a knee injury against Shakhtar Donetsk.

Arteta, meanwhile, is considering handing a debut to young goalkeeper Tommy Setford at Deepdale on Wednesday night.

The Ajax academy product, whose brother Charlie also plays for the Dutch side and whose father Chris is a professional golfer, joined in the summer only to miss most of the season with a hip injury.

Arteta claims that Jurrien Timber is ‘fine’ despite appearing to suffer cramp against Liverpool

Riccardo Calafiori is due to be out for ‘a few weeks’ after his Shakhtar Donetsk knee injury

Martin Odegaard ‘still has boxes to tick’ but is hoped to return before the international break

Gabriel Magalhaes ‘doesn’t look bad at all’ but the centre-back is still being assessed

If he is to play, it will be the second round in a row that Arteta has fielded a young ‘keeper after Jack Porter started against Bolton in their previous game.

‘We brought Tommy because we know he’s got the qualities we’re looking for with our goalkeeping area,’ said Arteta. ‘Unfortunately he’s been injured so he hasn’t really played.

‘It’s not a question about age, it’s that if they play it’s because they deserve to the same as the rest of the players. At the end of the day we have to reward the people who, each day, they behave in a certain manner and they have the level to play in the manner we want to play in and if that is the case, I don’t care if they are players from the academy, youth players or seniors, they will play.

‘We have to build that [new generation of goalkeepers]. We threw Jack in much earlier than we wanted but it worked out and it was a beautiful day, but it was not ideal. You want to build something long term brick by brick and go through the right steps to be really solid to play at the level we want them. That’s what we are trying to do. It takes a while but we have some good potential there now.’