Arsenal play host to Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Tuesday evening, and manager Mikel Arteta has provided an injury update ahead of the clash at the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners salvaged a late draw at the BayArena in the first leg, courtesy of an 89th-minute Kai Havertz penalty. While they return to North London in a strong position – and heavily favoured to overcome Leverkusen – Arteta’s side will need to play significantly better than they did in Western Germany, if they do indeed want to progress into the last eight of Europe’s elite competition.
Leverkusen will be buoyed by their performance in the first leg, as well as their display at home to Bayern Munich on the weekend, when they disrupted the German giants’ title charge by holding Vincent Kompany’s team to a 1-1 draw. Kasper Hjulmand’s outfit will provide Arsenal with a stern test.
Mikel Arteta issues updates on Jurrien Timber and Martin Odegaard
After a season of persistent injury issues, Arsenal’s squad is finally nearing full fitness, and perfectly in time for the run-in. Aside from long-term absentee Mikel Merino, the Gunners have few fitness problems to contend with.
That said, Jurrien Timber was forced off the pitch during Saturday’s game against Everton. The Dutchman went down early on and tried to play through this setback, but was eventually replaced by Cristhian Mosquera before half-time.
Concerns were raised when Timber wasn’t spotted in Arsenal training on Monday morning, and Arteta has now confirmed that the right-back won’t be available for the second leg against Leverkusen.
In the same update, the Spaniard also revealed that Martin Odegaard, who hasn’t featured since the North London Derby last month, also won’t be back for the encounter with the Bundesliga outfit.
“Yes, both of them are out, yeah,” he said.
“We don’t know, I think with him [Timber] it will be a matter of days, but not sure.”
He then added that Odegaard is pushing to return for the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City on Sunday.
“Yeah, so we’re really pushing, he really wants to try to be available, but we’ll have to wait and see in the next few days when he trains with the team how he feels. We know the game that we’re going to be playing in a few days again, and the more players that we have the better.”
Leandro Trossard available for Bayer Leverkusen clash
While Arteta will be without Timber and Odegaard for the visit of Leverkusen, he has received some positive injury news from his medical team.
Leandro Trossard has missed the last two matches after coming off with a problem in the first half of the Mansfield FA Cup tie, but the Belgian is now expected to be available to play against Leverkusen. The former Brighton man trained on Monday and is subsequently in contention for a starting birth.
“He’s okay, he felt good, so he’s available,” he said bluntly.
Elsewhere, Ben White could start for the first time in over a month, in Timber’s absence. The English defender has been in and out of the side through injury this year, and Arteta confirmed on Monday in his press conference that the player is fit and raring to go.
“Yeah, he’s in a much better place, he’s been very unlucky this season in certain moments,” the tactician said.
“He had very, very good moments as well throughout the season, so we need everybody available. We know what Ben gives us when he’s at his best, and he trained today, he feels good, so we need everybody’s contribution.”
