Arsenal hit with injury crisis as Arteta provides update

Mikel Arteta is the maestro of deceit when it comes to injuries. He will dodge questions about injuries with the agility of a boxer if there is a chance for an advantage. Yet, assembling a backline could prove to be difficult in and of itself ahead of Arsenal’s Champions League match against Monaco on Wednesday.

Thomas Partey, Jurrien Timber, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Riccardo Calafiori, and Gabriel did not show up for training on Tuesday. This contributes to the long-term exclusions of Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu.

Arteta said that :- ‘We have to manage a lot of the players. Some of them are probably not going to be fit for tomorrow, some of them are still a doubt. We still have 24 hours to make the right decisions – and hopefully the right one.’

Kieran Tierney, a forgotten man, enters the picture due to the defensive injury problem. After being loaned to Real Sociedad the previous season and then suffering an injury during the Euros that ended any chance of leaving, the 27-year-old left back has long been out of Arteta’s plans.

Tierney last appeared for the Gunners in the August Community Shield game against Manchester City, more than a year ago.

‘He’s ready. He’s trained really well and he’s going to have an opportunity for sure,’ said Arteta.

‘The way the team is looking (with injuries) at the moment, he’s going to do that (play) for that reason and because he’s earned it as well. The way he’s behaved, the way he’s been with us, because he’s willing to do it, and when that happens you have to give opportunities to those kind of players.’