While Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares were signed in January it was expected that the Brazilian will take time to acclimatise before starting for the Gunners whereas Soares will serve his injury.
Mikel Arteta, however, has downsized the claim on Pablo Mari and has hinted on the Brazilian starting off against Newcastle United. The centre-back doesn’t have any injury concern and is training with the group in Dubai.
Mari has not played since December 21 and may need time to get back to full fitness. The winter break luckily for Arsenal has proved to be beneficial and has given Mari aplenty time to get used to his new team.
Cedric Soares too has been training with the club in Dubai but is having individual sessions and may take time to recover fully. The full-back from Southampton is fully aware of the style-of-play of Premier League and will start the moment he is deemed fit.
Talking about the duo’s certainty of starting against Newcastle, Arteta said:
“With Pablo (I am optimistic) a little bit more than Cedric, but we have to go step by step,” Arteta said. “He is a new player and I am sure he is very excited and wants to prove everything in three days, so we have to manage him wisely.”
Pablo Mari is probably the one who will make his debut against Newcastle in the coming weekend while Cedric Soares will take a little more time to get into action.
If they both make it into the starting XI by the start of Europa League knock-out stages, it will be a great boost for Arsenal as well as their chances of winning the competition.
