Arteta confirms Timber's Ipswich absence was precautionary as Merino shines on first start

Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Jurrien Timber did not suffer a fresh injury during his absence from Arsenal’s 4-2 Carabao Cup victory over Ipswich on Tuesday evening, insisting the Dutch defender was simply being managed after an extended spell on the sidelines.

Timber had only recently returned from a groin problem that kept him out for five months, and Arteta explained that the decision to rest him was precautionary. “No, everything is fine,” the Arsenal head coach said after the match. “He has played much more than we wanted. The other day he had 53 minutes after five months out. We need to look after him.”

In Timber’s absence, Arsenal were largely comfortable at Emirates Stadium, with Max Dowman netting twice and goals from Noni Madueke and Mikel Merino completing the win. Merino, making his first start of the season, drew particular praise from Arteta, who described the World Cup winner as one of the most intelligent players he has ever worked with.

“He’s unbelievable,” Arteta said of the Spanish midfielder. “First of all, he’s one of the most intelligent players that I’ve seen and I’ve worked with. Then the personality is just full of… he just wants to give for everybody. He thinks about everything, he thinks about everybody. And on top of that, he has qualities that are unique in football and in our team — his capacity to arrive in the box, to occupy different places, to play in different positions, to link play with people.”

Arteta was broadly satisfied with the overall performance, highlighting the tempo and intent his side showed from the opening whistle. “I’m really pleased with a lot of things that we’ve done tonight — the way we attacked the game, how dominant, fluent and aggressive we were right from the beginning,” he said. “We scored two very early goals that gave us a great platform for the game, and individually some big performances as well. Some debuts tonight, which is great to see.”

Arsenal now turn their attention to a Premier League trip to Brighton, where Arteta will be hoping to have both Merino and Timber available as the Gunners look to maintain their perfect start to the league season.