Everton Football Club

• Nickname:Toffees
• Founded:1878
• Manager:David Moyes

• Ground:Goodison Park
• Capacity:42440

Arteta in race against time

13 Nov 2007 - 14:57:20

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Everton midfielder Mikel Arteta has the chance to recuperate during the international break as he attempts to recover from a groin injury.

The Spanish star missed Sunday's draw at Chelsea after sustaining the problem in the UEFA Cup victory at Nurnberg.

Everton's next Premier League game is not until the November 24 clash with Sunderland at Goodison Park and head physio Mick Rathbone hopes Arteta will have recovered from his injury in time to feature in that game.

He told the club's official website: "Mikel's got quite a nasty groin strain and he's got to rest for a couple of weeks and we'll reassess him then.

"He was struggling badly in the second half against Nurnberg but he dug deep for the team.

"However, there's people like Stubbsy (Alan Stubbs) who is very close to being back, Leighton Baines trained on Saturday and is very close and AJ (Andrew Johnson) is going to be back in training this week."