Surprise Arsenal ace returns, Timber one-word message, Havertz injury hint - Inside the Emirates

This week's edition of Inside the Emirates features a familiar face and hints at the latest Arsenal injury news.

Arsenal made the dispatching of Southampton harder than it needed to be, but they got the job done and secured three important points before the international break. They sit level on points with Manchester City and just a point off leaders Liverpool who will be the next side to come visit the Emirates Stadium in the league.

As usual football.london was inside the stadium on Saturday afternoon and brings you the glimpses behind-the-scenes covering the club. There was certainly an emphasis on taking in the atmospheric question marks of the game against PSG and these persisted, yet claimed that ‘tourist fans’ are somehow a big reason behind it falls short which have been discussed already here.

After the game and heading down to the mixed zone, there were some good insights into the inner workings and hints about players' potential status. As well as a surprise familiar face appearing too in the weekly edition of Inside the Emirates.

The return of Soares

Arsenal always get some familiar faces from both the footballing world and beyond watching their games. Often this can be some former players who have the freedom to come and watch their old teammates.

One such player who could say that of both sides was Cedric Soares. Having left Arsenal at the expiration of his contract in the summer, this was apparently the first time this season that the Portuguese full-back was spotted.

Cedric played for the Saints between 2015 and 2020 before joining Arsenal on loan before a free transfer began a four-year stint in north London. At present, the 33-year-old is still without a club but has not made any suggestion of an intent to retire, yet, and remains on the lookout.

READ MORE: Arsenal ‘ready’ for Liverpool as confidence returns to key figure in massive title boost

READ MORE: Nicolas Jover has big Arsenal problem to solve but Edu has already spent millions on the answer

Injury hints

As always, the injured members of the squad come through the mixed zone, giving a small chance to assess how comfortably they are moving. Ben White, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Jurrien Timber were all present and moving easily with hope they could return after the break.

football.london did cheekily put the question to Timber to see if he might be back after the break to which he simply said, “Hopefully.” Timber has been excellent for the Gunners this season and will be in direct competition with White when they both return to action.

Kai Havertz surprise

When the news dropped that Kai Havertz would miss Germany’s games against Bosnia & Herzegovina and the Netherlands this came as a surprise. The forward scored and completed the full game against Southampton and has not had any suggestions of fitness-related issues for some time.

Claims are that a knee injury is the cause for his absence. Havertz did indeed walk through the halls of the Emirates Stadium, signing autographs and taking photos with supporters but any worries over a serious problem can hopefully be discouraged by there being nothing spotted at the time to hint at that – perhaps it is instead to help manage the significant number of minutes he has played and to prevent a flare-up of something he has felt in the knee.

This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
UEFA Champions League
Watch Arsenal's Champions League games free

Prime Video is broadcasting one Champions League game every game week free for Amazon Prime members. Arsenal's upcoming fixtures include Shakhtar Donetsk on October 22, which is free for Prime members or those signing up for a 30-day free trial.

Every Champions League and Europa League game is also available on TNT Sports via Prime Video’s Discovery+ channel.

£0

Amazon
Get Amazon Prime here