The Chris Wheatley Show is a brand new weekly series talking all things Arsenal and the Premier League. This week, Chris Wheatley and host Jason Jones reveal all about Arsenal 4-1 Newcastle, latest injury news and much more.
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00:00 That was always Chris, plenty of listener questions to get through. We're going to
00:06 start with one from Arthur Francis, who is asking for a little bit of an injury update.
00:12 Uri and Timber and Thomas Party are the two names that he has mentioned. And also, just
00:18 in relation to the fact that Timber has been mentioned in, rather named in Arsenal's
00:24 Champions League squad, would that suggest that he is potentially nearing some kind of
00:30 recovery?
00:31 Uri and Timber, we've spoken about him quite a bit in the past few episodes, but he is
00:37 on his way back. He's recovering from his ACL injury. Positive news, Mikkel Arteta said
00:42 that he is hoping to do some bits of him on the pitch in the next few weeks, or next week
00:49 or so was his exact quote. Then we need to see how that evolves, his confidence levels,
00:53 his fitness levels, and hopefully then the answer is yes. Yes, he will return before
01:00 the end of the season, which is a magnificent return for him. Really big boost as well after
01:06 such a serious injury to get a really quality player back like Uri and Timber is going to
01:11 be great for Arsenal. But there's no pressure, of course, like I said before, there's no
01:14 pressure on him to return to the team. I think Arsenal are doing okay without him, of course,
01:19 at the moment. But yeah, I think he will certainly be one of those players who is looking to
01:25 get back into the first team fold as soon as he can. So good news really for him.
01:33 And Thomas Partey, I mean, he seems to be a player who gets to the cusp of fitness and
01:38 then suffers a setback. Is he any closer to returning to that first team, do you think?
01:44 Mikel Arteta said that Partey is very close to a return. Did seem a bit frustrated when
01:50 he was asked about him in his last press conference. He said, obviously, he's been out for many,
01:56 many months now. We need to really nail the timing and when he has enough in the tank
02:00 to compete. So I don't know, you get the sense from Mikel Arteta that maybe he's a bit frustrated
02:06 with the constant injuries for Thomas Partey. And yeah, you wonder if his time might be
02:13 up come the end of the season. He hasn't really played much this season. Injuries have really
02:19 affected his progress at Arsenal, you could argue. He's never really got a lot of games
02:24 under his belt or consistent games. And I think that's been an issue for him and it's
02:29 been an issue for Arsenal, of course.
02:31 So yeah, look, Partey will be hoping to get back. If Arsenal can get past Porto, then
02:37 he will obviously hope to get some minutes in the Champions League, of course. But at
02:42 the moment, it's step by step and game by game. And hopefully he will be back fairly
02:48 soon. The next game, of course, is against Sheffield United. There's hope that he'll
02:53 be available, but at the moment it's uncertain. So we'll just have to wait and see on that
02:58 one.
02:59 Got an interesting question here from Brian, who is asking about Albert "Sandy" Laconga,
03:05 obviously currently out on loan at Luton Town. Came in for huge prayers recently from Jurgen
03:11 Klopp when Luton went to Liverpool. He's really starting to put in some impressive
03:15 displays at Kenilworth Road. Is he a player who you think could potentially have a future
03:22 at Arsenal, or do you still think that there is an opportunity for him to maybe leave on
03:26 a permanent basis in the summer?
03:30 You referenced that Klopp interview. It was quite funny where he said, "Oh, it was interesting
03:36 that Arsenal decided to send out Sandy Laconga." He was surprised, Jurgen Klopp. I'm not quite
03:41 sure why he was surprised, because I think Laconga was surplus to requirements in that
03:46 Arsenal midfield. There's a lot of players ahead of him. And when he did get his chance
03:50 at Arsenal, you could argue that he wasn't really consistent enough. So I think he needed
03:55 that loan move. He needed regular minutes somewhere else. And in the Premier League,
03:59 Luton have given him those minutes and he's really flourished. I think he's been a standout
04:03 performer in a lot of their games this season. And I think Klopp was referencing his really
04:09 man of the match performance against Manchester United, where he made a fantastic block to
04:14 deny. I think it was Bruno Fernandes in the game. I think Laconga is really showing his
04:21 class at Luton and he will be hoping to compete for a place in pre-season. So I think there's
04:27 certainly a chance that he will get an opportunity in pre-season and then he'll be assessed from
04:33 there by Nikola Teta. But yeah, Jürgen Klopp, I'm sure if he, well, he won't be at Liverpool
04:38 next season, of course, but I'm sure if Liverpool do want to sign him, they will have to come
04:42 up with big money.
04:44 We've got an inquiry here from Santos, who is asking just about the general mood in the
04:51 Arsenal dressing room at the moment. Obviously, we know that they're on this fantastic run
04:54 in the league, a little bit of a setback in the Champions League, but not one that isn't
04:57 insurmountable. I mean, things must be pretty good at the Emirates at the moment, Chris.
05:03 Yeah, from everyone I speak to around the club, there's a really positive mood at the
05:08 moment and I think that's a sign of just how well the team are playing because it's been
05:14 a lot of goals, a lot of wins in recent matches. I think, as Edu said in his interview and
05:20 as we spoke about, there's a young, hungry, happy team who are just trying to take themselves
05:26 to the next level. And that Premier League title, that elusive Premier League title,
05:30 which is just within their grasp, of course, but Manchester City and Liverpool are both
05:34 there. Arsenal really do have a good chance this season. If they can keep players fit
05:39 and get those players, those big players like Partey and Timber, of course, returning then
05:43 why not? Why can't they do it? Of course. But City have been there before. It's going
05:48 to be a tough one, but the mood at the moment is very positive, very bright.
05:53 Mikel Arteta is certainly focused on these next few games and let's not forget as well,
05:58 they've got that Champions League game against Porto coming up. That's going to be a key
06:02 game which could potentially affect the outcome of the rest of the season, confidence levels
06:07 and we'll see exactly where they are after that game, of course. But yeah, let's see
06:13 what happens. It's going to be an interesting end to the season.
06:18 And we've already sort of mentioned him in person, but we have a question here from Tobias
06:23 asking about Aaron Ramsdale and his future in North London. Obviously, we know it's been
06:28 well documented that he's not getting a lot of opportunities at the moment. David Rye
06:32 is expected to make his move from Brentford permanent in the summer. And we know given
06:38 Ramsdale's England ambitions that he would assume that he would like to be playing first
06:43 team football somewhere. I mean, is he a player who you could see leaving the club in the
06:48 coming months?
06:50 Yeah, I think when we just spoke about Aaron Ramsdale, I said he is someone who certainly
06:58 could be leaving in the summer. I think that's just because of his lack of game time. January
07:04 was never a likely option for him to leave. But of course, the summer is a different kettle
07:10 official together. And I think, yeah, we've spoken about David Rye. I think he is now
07:15 undoubtedly the number one goalkeeper unless something drastic happens. But it does look
07:21 like Ramsdale now is the deputy. I don't think that's certainly not what he wants. He's a
07:26 player with big ambitions. He really wants to be number one for club and country. He's
07:31 certainly not going to be number one for country if he can't get into the Arsenal starting
07:36 line-up.
07:37 So, yeah, I think it's something that he will consider in the summer, something he'll look
07:40 at, a club will look at, because David Rye, of course, at the moment is the undisputed
07:46 number one in goal for Arsenal.
07:50 And I mean, if he were to leave, obviously we know that there is a much greater prevalence
07:57 of loan deals and options to buy and things such as that these days. I mean, could you
08:01 see him leaving on a permanent basis or might it be one where Arsenal just sort of send
08:05 him out for a while and reassess the situation further down the line?
08:10 Yeah, I think there's that possibility as well. Like we've seen with Sambi Lukonga,
08:15 Nuno Tavares, you know, Kieran Tierney as well. All of these kind of first team players,
08:19 maybe they perhaps have a future at the club. You know, they've gone out on loan to fairly
08:26 big clubs to increase their market value, to get minutes. Potentially there will be
08:32 worth more when they come back to Arsenal. So, yeah, I think there's a possibility Ramsdale
08:38 that he could go out on loan as well. But as I said, I think his future is something
08:43 that he will be considering come the summer due to his lack of game time.