Mikel Arteta Reveals Double Arsenal Injury Blow on Top of Midfield Suspensions

The Gunners wrap their Champions League league phase with the visit of Kairat Almaty.

Mikel Arteta addressed the media on Tuesday. | David Price/Arsenal FC/Getty Images

Mikel Arteta has confirmed that William Saliba’s absence from Arsenal training ahead of facing Kairat Almaty in the Champions League is the result of injury ruling him out of the game—and he will be joined on the sidelines by Jurriën Timber and the suspended duo of Declan Rice and Mikel Merino.

The Spaniard told his news conference when asked about Saliba and Timber not training: “Those aren’t [available]... they have some niggles. It’s a good opportunity now that we make a different kind of work with them to get them in the best possible conditions that we can offer them.”

Playing the game without Saliba, Timber, Rice and Merino is a blow in one sense. But if Arsenal can afford to be without them for any game, it’s perhaps this one. Kairat’s elimination is already sealed and the Kazakh champions visit the Emirates Stadium as one of only three teams—alongside Slavia Prague and Villarreal—yet to win a game in this season’s league phase.

Who Will Arsenal Turn to With Saliba and Timber Missing

William Saliba will miss at least one game. | James Gill/Danehouse/Getty Images

Arteta would likely have rotated anyway, affording key players like Saliba and Timber a rest while getting minutes in the legs of Ben White and Cristhian Mosquera. They are the duo you’d expect to come into the side, forming a back four alongside Piero Hincapié and Myles Lewis-Skelly—the latter has seen his opportunities limited of late and will be desperate to impress.

Mosquera has deputised already for Saliba this season, so Arteta knows what the young centre back can offer. He may not have the class and composure of his more esteemed teammate, but the former Valencia star has shown he’s a more than adequate alternative.

As for White, he was Arteta’s first-choice right back when Timber was a long-term injury absentee. The Englishman has lost his prominent role over the past year, and is now an option that Arteta tends to turn to when he’s looking to see out a game or is playing inferior opposition.

• Arsenal predicted lineup vs. Kairat—Champions League Matchday 8

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Arsenal Can Use Kairat Game As Chance to Refresh

Mikel Arteta must look past Sunday’s defeat to Manchester United. | Nicolò Campo/LightRocket/Getty Images

After taking just two points from the last nine on offer in the Premier League and seeing their lead at the top shrink to only four points, Arsenal can use the Kairat game to refresh.

Arteta described the reaction of the players to Sunday’s shock defeat to Manchester United as “excellent” and “encouraging” following a moment of inner reflection. “We took a moment to bring the temperature down, to pause, to reflect and ask two questions,” he added. “How do we feel and how [do] we want to live the next four months.

“It was so encouraging and beautiful, because what came out of there is very simple. We have earned the right to be in a great position in four competitions, and in the next four months we’re going to live and play with enjoyment, with a lot of courage and with the conviction that we’re going to win it.

“This is going to be the mindset and where we’re going to put the energy. I’m just hoping that everybody that is related to this club, especially our supporters, jump on that boat because this is the way that we’re going to live the next four months. We deserve to live like this.”

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