Mikel Arteta handed mixed Arsenal injury news as former star gives Champions League verdict

Add as preferred source on Google

Catch all the latest Arsenal news, including updates on injuries, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Riccardo Calafiori and Sead Kolasinac.

Double Arsenal injury boost

Arsenal have been handed a bit of a boost on the injury front ahead of their game against Atalanta in the Champions League on Thursday night.

The first boost is that Bukayo Saka was pictured in training on Wednesday before the side jetted off to Italy for the tie.

The winger was a bit of a fitness concern after he couldn’t finish the game against Tottenham in the North London Derby.

However, with his involvement in training, Saka looks set to be involved from the off when Mikel Arteta names his starting lineup.

The second boost surrounds Riccardo Calafiori, who was also seen in training on Wednesday and now looks set to travel with his Arsenal teammates to Bergamo.

The Italian international missed the win over Spurs due to a freak leg injury he picked up while playing against France.

It remains to be seen just how many minutes the defender could get on Thursday, having worked his way back to fitness.

Read more on Arsenal’s injury boost, here.

Five Arsenal stars missing in injury worry

While there was a double boost on the injury front on Wednesday, there were still five players missing in training.

Martin Odegaard, Mikel Merino, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney were all absent in the final session before the game against Atalanta.

The Arsenal club captain has been a key concern over the past few weeks, given his ankle injury picked up on international duty with Norway.

Following some scans and a visit to a specialist, Odegaard’s involvement against Atalanta looks unlikely, while he faces a race against time to get fit for the clash with Manchester City.

Read more on Arsenal’s injury absences, here.

Sead Kolasinac on Arsenal clash

Former Arsenal defender Sead Kolasinac has previewed his Atalanta’s side clash with the Gunners on Thursday night in the Champions League.

The left-back had starred at the Emirates Stadium for a while but fell down the pecking order under Mikel Arteta.

He left in 2022, making the move to Olympique Marseille before joining Atalanta in 2023, where he will now go head-to-head with his old team.

Speaking to the media ahead of the tie, Kolasinac said: “Happy to see my old comrades again. Always complicated to face English teams, but we prepared well.

“Against Fiorentina, we discovered the special atmosphere of the new stadium, we can’t wait to find our fans in the Champions League. I tried to help Atalanta from the start, both from the field and off the field.

“To play the Champions League it’s important to enjoy the chances, as it did in the Europa League last year.

“Arsenal won the derby of North London and has great solid players in defence. We have studied them. They are young and strong, but so are we. Mikel Arteta, a great coach, is doing a great job.”

Read more on Sead Kolasinac’s verdict, here.