Mikel Arteta faced the media on Tuesday ahead of Arsenal’s midweek rematch with Sporting.
Here’s what he said about the Gunners’ latest injury news.
ARSENAL TEAM NEWS
The Premier League leaders have another injury scare heading into the second leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final.
That game comes just four days before Arsenal face Manchester City in a pivotal top-flight clash.
The new concern is Declan Rice, who was absent from an open training session on Tuesday morning.
“We have to wait till tomorrow morning to see how a few of the boys are and make the right decision with them.” – Mikel Arteta when asked about Declan Rice missing training and the general Arsenal team news
“I don’t want to do that. We have to wait and see how he is tomorrow. Obviously, he wasn’t available to train.” – Mikel Arteta when asked to explain what Declan Rice’s issue is
“He’s played a lot of games, and that’s part of the issue, but he’s going to try to do everything that he possibly can to be with us tomorrow.” – Mikel Arteta on whether Declan Rice’s awkward landing on Saturday was the cause of his training-ground absence
Also missing were long-term absentee Mikel Merino (foot) and the foursome who sat out Gameweek 32, Bukayo Saka (Achilles), Jurrien Timber (ankle), Riccardo Calafiori (unspecified) and Martin Odegaard (unspecified).
Arteta finally revealed the nature of Saka’s problem (an Achilles injury) and suggested either the winger or Timber could be back on Tuesday, but we had diddly squat on Calafiori and Odegaard.
“Maybe one of them, let’s see.” – Mikel Arteta on if there is any chance that Bukayo Saka or Jurrien Timber return for the Sporting game
“It was something that he was carrying for a while.
“It was an Achilles issue.
“No [setback], there is progression. Hopefully, it is going to be a matter of days and not weeks but he has to see, when he is loading more, how he responds to that kind of progression.” – Mikel Arteta on Bukayo Saka
