Arsenal’s chances of welcoming any injured players back against Atletico Madrid have taken a hit, with none of the four involved in training on Monday.
If Arsenal fans were hoping for some good news on the injury front from Monday’s open training session in front of the media, they would have been left disappointed by the list of players involved.
Mikel Merino, Jurrien Timber, Kai Havertz, and Martin Odegaard were all absent from the session, hinting that they may all be set to miss Tuesday’s game.
That’s certainly not confirmed, as sometimes an injured player will be held back from training to give them as much time as possible to rest ahead of a game. But it would have been a much better sign if any of them had been spotted in training on Monday.
The only good news from the session is that Bukayo Saka was involved, confirming that there’s no injury setback following his half-time substitution against Fulham.
Joining the first-team players were Marli Salmon and Josh Ogunnaike, providing some backup defensive options from the academy.
Arsenal likely won’t have too many spare spots in the squad, but the increased size of the Champions League benches might make call-ups possible for the youth duo.
Salmon and third-choice goalkeeper Tommy Setford both made the bench in Madrid, and that was before Odegaard’s injury.
Arsenal should at least be able to name a similar team to the one they started in Madrid, or against Fulham at the weekend, with Odegaard the only current injury doubt to start either of those games.
Mikel Arteta didn’t have Havertz, Timber, or Merino for the last week of football, so it’s nothing new if they miss out again on Tuesday.
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