Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard are both set to make the Arsenal squad against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night, despite missing training on Monday.
Speaking after Arsenal’s win over Fulham, Mikel Arteta had suggested that he believed injured duo Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard were in contention to feature against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday.
But when both players were subsequently missing from Monday’s open training session in front of the media, serious doubt was cast over their potential availability.
Yet in his press conference on Monday night, Arteta continued to insist both will be involved.
“They are available, they are in the squad, both of them,” Arteta said. “We need options, we need the capacity to play different games tomorrow, whether it’s from the start or after. So it’s really, really good news for us to have them both back.”
There was also some good news from Monday’s training session, as everyone who featured at the weekend was involved, including Bukayo Saka and Riccardo Calafiori.
Saka and Calafiori had been making their first starts post-injury against Fulham, so it’s great to see that they’ve avoided setbacks.
On Saka’s return to fitness, Arteta said: “Great, that’s what we need when we arrive in this stage of the competition – the players not only to be available, but to be in top condition to perform and make the difference, and Bukayo will certainly give us that.”
If Odegaard and Havertz are indeed available, and there are no new injury concerns as expected, then Mikel Merino and Jurrien Timber will be the only two players to miss Tuesday’s semi-final second leg.
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