Latest Arsenal injury news for Bournemouth amid Kai Havertz decision and Ben White hope

Mikel Arteta will be hoping his list of Arsenal injury doubts decreases significantly in time for their Premier League clash away to Bournemouth. The Gunners return to domestic action on Saturday evening at Vitality Stadium following the second international break of the 2024/25 season.

From seven games played, Arsenal sit on 15 points having won five games and drawn the other two with their unbeaten start to the league season also carrying over into the Champions League and Carabao Cup.

With a tough game against Bournemouth to come this evening and those three fixtures among the challenges facing Arsenal very soon, Arteta will be hoping for the full compliment of his squad to be injury-free. Currently though, that is far from the case with the biggest concern surrounding Bukayo Saka.

The 23-year-old left England's Nations League clash defeat to Greece with a hamstring injury, but . "It's not a serious injury, and he's evolving well," he admitted. "He was probably good enough to play with the national team second game. We have some big tests today [on Friday] so we are hopeful."

Arteta is also seemingly full of hope that Ben White, Jurrien Timber and Oleksandr Zinchenko can return as well with the trio having all at least missed the win over Southampton earlier this month. "They are quite close the three of them," he said. "Today we'll have to push. We are struggling a bit with the numbers, especially in our right side."

Elsewhere, judging by comments from Arteta, there is far more doubt over Kai Havertz and Gabriel Martinelli given the quick turnaround and ongoing issues. "Gabi landed yesterday [Thursday] afternoon and he went outside for a bit, to see how he's feeling," Arteta said. "We have to decide if we want to take a risk because I know he'll say he is."

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"He had a few issues but we've been dealing with that," Arteta added on Havertz. "We've great communication with Germany. If he trains well today he has a good chance to be fit and available." Based on his admission, Arteta is facing a huge decision on Havertz, especially given his importance and the games awaiting Arsenal.

Up to seven players, with Thomas Partey also an injury doubt to face Bournemouth after he left Ghana camp early, could either miss out or overcome injury issues for the Bournemouth game, but Martin Odegaard is one player guaranteed to not feature.

"He's not going to be fit for this game [with Bournemouth]. Next week will be a different story.

"In that later stage of his rehab, where he is at the moment because he's already doing a lot of stuff already, he needs to clear some markers. There are certain things he needs to be comfortable with doing, especially with the ball.

"Next week will be crucial to understanding how close he is." That leaves Kieran Tierney as the only senior Arsenal star without a rough return date as he continues to rehab his hamstring which was badly damaged at Euro 2024.