Before this weekend’s North London Derby, Jurrien Timber sent a clear six-word message from Arsenal to rivals Tottenham. After a challenging debut season, the Netherlands international has participated in just the last two Premier League games for Arsenal due to a long-term knee injury.
Timber played his first game as an adult again on the final day of the season against Everton, having suffered a serious knee injury in the first Premier League match of the previous campaign. The defender was able to play all of preseason, but Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has been very careful with his minutes because he has a foot problem that is making him less fit.
Arsenal’s Jurrien Timber in action.
After Timber performed well as an inverted left defender in their recent Nations League games, Ronald Koeman invited him up to the Dutch squad. Timber entered the game and played the second half of Manchester City’s 2-2 tie with Germany when Nathan Ake injured himself.
Timber had also played in the final 24 minutes of the 5-2 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina three days prior, coming off the bench. In the Germany match, he also faced Kai Havertz, who frequently engaged in one-on-one altercations with his Arsenal teammate.
Timber sent a statement on his Instagram.
Timber immediately texted Havertz after the game, then promptly shifted his focus to Tottenham. “Country foes!” he said with a photo of Havertz and him wrestling for a ball that he had uploaded to Instagram. Let’s talk about city enemies now.
Timber and Havertz had a brief discussion following the altercation. The two Arsenal players will be back together this weekend. It looks like Timber and Havertz will start together again, with Havertz possibly going back to middle since Declan Rice, Mikel Merino, and Martin Odegaard will all be out.
Sunday will be Timber’s first time playing in the North London Derby. However, Havertz had a great start in the away game last season, scoring and setting up a goal in their 3-2 win. Arteta wants to make at least two forced changes, so the Gunners will need both of them to be at their best.