Mikel Arteta said Arsenal must wait until Wednesday morning before making final decisions on a number of players, with Declan Rice unable to train and Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber still racing to be involved against Sporting CP
Mikel Arteta said Arsenal will delay final decisions on several players until the morning of the Sporting CP match, after confirming that Declan Rice was not available to train on Tuesday and leaving open the possibility that either Bukayo Saka or Jurrien Timber could return for the Champions League quarter-final second leg. Arsenal take a 1-0 lead into the game at the Emirates Stadium, but the manager’s pre-match press conference made clear that the fitness picture remains unsettled on the eve of kick-off.
Rice was the most immediate concern after he was not seen in the open section of training earlier in the day. Asked directly about the midfielder, Arteta said Arsenal would “have to wait till tomorrow morning” to assess “a few of the boys” before making “the right decision with them”. He declined to go into detail on Rice’s issue, but confirmed that the England international “wasn’t available to train”. Later in the press conference, Arteta suggested the problem is linked in part to workload, saying Rice “has played a lot of games” and would “try to do everything that he possibly can to be with us tomorrow”.
There was slightly more encouragement on Saka and Timber, though not enough to call either player fit. When asked if one of them could be back against Sporting, Arteta replied: “Maybe one of them. Let’s see.” That was one of the clearest injury lines of the press conference, and it leaves open the prospect of at least one return, even if Arsenal are still waiting to see how both players respond before making a final call.
Arteta also offered a more direct update on Bukayo Saka, confirming the winger is dealing with an Achilles-related issue but suggesting a return may not be far away. “No, (there hasn’t been a setback) it is progression, but hopefully it's going to be a matter of days and not weeks, but be has to see when he's loading more how he responds to to that kind of progression” the Arsenal manager said, although that timeline will still depend on how the player responds as his workload increases.
That explains the cautious tone around availability. Arteta acknowledged the importance of getting players back at this stage of the season and said Arsenal have been missing “four or five starters now for weeks”, which “has an impact”. He also suggested some members of the squad are already trying to push through issues because of the significance of the run-in, but stopped short of offering any guarantees on who will be ready against Sporting.
For Arsenal, the update leaves the squad picture only partly defined before one of their biggest games of the season. Rice remains a doubt after missing training, Saka and Timber still have a chance, and Merino is out. By his own account, Arteta's final decisions will wait until Wednesday morning.