Arsenal face another injury crisis as key duo miss training before AS Monaco clash

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Arsenal are facing a potential injury crisis ahead of their clash with AS Monaco as several players missed training on Tuesday before the Champions League clash on Wednesday.

It comes as Mikel Arteta is already battling to keep his squad fit and firing across all fronts, which has started to ramp up in difficulty.

Arsenal are spread particularly thin at the back, where defensive options have been hard to come by in recent weeks.

Gabriel Magalhaes, Riccardo Calafiori and Oleksandr Zinchenko were all injured for the clash against Fulham, putting them out of action.

Add the long-term absences of Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu and the challenge of keeping the team at their very best becomes clear.

To make things even worse, the Arsenal boss may now have a fresh issue with two more players missing from a recent training session.

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Arsenal handed Jurrien Timber and Thomas Partey injury scare

Heading into the Champions League tie on Wednesday night, the last thing Arsenal needed was another injury scare.

Well they may have got just that as, according to journalist Kaya Kaynak, both Jurrien Timber and Thomas Partey were not present in training on Tuesday.

That is on top of the trio of Gabriel Magalhaes, Riccardo Calafiori and Oleksandr Zinchenko, with uncertainty on when they may return.

There may be some hope that all five will be available to play on Wednesday night, should it later be revealed that the latter two additions are managing their workload instead of facing an actual injury.

It’s unclear though, which options Arteta will have to call upon, should all of those players be absent against Monaco.

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Arsenal defensive options vs Monaco with injury worries

Should Arsenal definitely miss those five players from their backline, there are very few options remaining to choose from.

It may call on Arteta to be very clever with his selection in the defensive third, as a few different players could fill in.

A lot of those players available are either in the Hale End academy or will have to shuffle positions into a slightly more unnatural place.

It remains to be seen exactly what the Arsenal boss decides to do when it comes to naming his team.