Mikel Arteta makes brutal resolution as Arsenal’s harm disaster worsens after triple blow

Arsenal have been dealt a triple blow ahead of the Champions League clash, forcing the Gunners boss to make a brutal decision as their injury crisis worsens

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has delivered a triple injury blow ahead of the Champions League clash with Club Brugge, confirming that Declan Rice, William Saliba and Leandro Trossard will all be missing from the squad.

Concerns had been mounting over both Rice and Saliba’s fitness going into the Belgian encounter, with Saliba having been sidelined for the previous three Premier League fixtures due to an injury. Rice had been a doubt for the Villa Park encounter, yet he managed to complete the entire 90 minutes during the heartbreaking 2-1 defeat.

During preparations for the Club Brugge fixture, the trio were notably absent from training sessions, with Arteta now confirming the Gunners’ fears regarding their availability.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference before the game, he said: “No, so Declan was ill so he was quite sick after the game already, and he hasn’t travelled with us, William is still not available and Leo again, he picked another knock in an area where he had the previous issue and I don’t expect that it’s going to be long but unfortunately, he cannot be with us.”

Arsenal have also been handed a blow with young winger Max Dowman suffering an injury while in action for the club’s youth side. Arteta has taken the opportunity to add Gabriel Jesus to the Champions League squad in place of Dowman, which means the talented teenager is now brutally ineligible to feature in the tournament for 60 days.

“So first of all, with Max, unfortunately, he picked up an injury last weekend, and he had to come off, so we did some scans, and he is going to be out for weeks,” Arteta explained.

“And then we have the situation of Gabi, which we are expecting to be training with us by the end of December, but Gabi has been pushing every single day, and he kept telling everybody I’m going to be earlier, earlier, earlier and he has done it. So thanks to his work and all the work that the medical staff have done with him throughout these months and we had the possibility to make a swap there.

“We have done it, and on one side, you see Max and his situation, and on the other side, you see the joy and how happy Gabi is to be back in this competition with us.”

Regarding the injury crisis, Arteta continued: “Frustrating losing Max, losing Leo, we lost big Gabi (Gabriel Magalhaes) and we have other players that we have certain minutes.

“We have managed that since the start of the season. Training, no, because we don’t have time to train. You are missing players you are loading players more.”

He continued: “I think you have to separate the kind of injuries that they are, long term, acute injuries with key players. It is something that we are constantly looking at.

“It’s not only one season we are looking at, some players have played 150 games in a few seasons. The moment you have one injury you are more likely to have another injury, so we are on it.”

The latest news means the trio join an injury roster that already features Kai Havertz, Gabriel, Cristhian Mosquera and Dowman.