Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta© AFP
Mikel Arteta has praised his Arsenal team for the way they have handled a major defensive injury crisis as he prepares his men to face Monaco in the Champions League on Wednesday. The Gunners sit seventh in the new-look Champions League format after three wins in five games – one place above the Ligue 1 team. But Arteta, whose men also sit third in the Premier League, is struggling with a long injury list. Gabriel Magalhaes and Riccardo Calafiori, who both missed Sunday's draw at Fulham, were absent from Tuesday's training, along with Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jurrien Timber and Thomas Partey. Right-backs Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu are still out with knee injuries.
“We have to manage a lot of the players so they probably won't be fit for tomorrow and there is some doubt about it,” Arteta said at his pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
“I still have 24 hours to make those decisions and hopefully the right ones. In the ideal scenario, we should be in charge of making those decisions because it forces us to make those decisions for the wrong reasons, but also, we have to accept reality and move forward.”
Arsenal stumbled early last month but won four straight games in all competitions before drawing 1-1 on Sunday.
But the Spaniard said he was happy with how his men coped with the lack of a solid backline.
“The good news is that the team is still responding and playing the way we want and becoming dominant, and we want to do that no matter who is playing. I think that belief is within the team and it's very positive ” he said. .
Arteta said there was a chance for defender Kieran Tierney to return; the 27-year-old Scottish international has yet to feature this season.
“He is ready, he is training very well and he will definitely get a chance given the way the team looks at the moment,” he said.
“It is for that reason and because he has also earned it with the way he has behaved and the way he has been with us.”
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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