Christian Eriksen feels ‘100 per cent secure’ ahead of return to action

Christian Eriksen says he has no anxiety about playing his first match since a cardiac arrest and believes a return to England was perfect after the incident last summer.

The Denmark international has not played a competitive match since June 12, when he collapsed and in his own words was “gone from this world for five minutes” during a Euro 2020 match with Finland.

After being fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator days after the incident, Eriksen had to be released by Inter Milan in December due to rules in Italy preventing athletes from competing with an ICD but made a surprise return to the Premier League with Brentford in January.

Bees boss Thomas Frank revealed on Friday the former Tottenham playmaker will play in a behind-closed-doors friendly on Monday which could open the door for him to be involved at Arsenal on February 19.

“Of course it is getting closer and closer, I do feel in my head and body that the excitement is coming, the adrenaline is coming more and more towards game time,” Eriksen said at his unveiling press conference at the Brentford Community Stadium.

“No, if there was any anxiety I wouldn’t go back.

“If I wasn’t fully committed and feel like I am trusting of the doctors, trusting of my heart, trusting my ICD in me, then I wouldn’t go back. No, I feel 100 per cent secure to go back.”

Eriksen trained with his team-mates for the first time on Monday but was familiar with several of them who are current Denmark internationals.

The 29-year-old has previously worked with Frank in the Danish age-group teams and yet had no ambitions to return to England before he suffered a cardiac arrest, having spent six-and-a-half years in the UK with Tottenham before a January exit in 2020.

He said: