Mikel Arteta confirms Arsenal injury boost ahead of Paris Saint-Germain showdown
Mikel Arteta has confirmed a much-needed injury boost for Arsenal ahead of their Champions League showdown against Paris Saint-Germain.
The Gunners head to the French capital this afternoon ahead of Wedneday’s semi-final second leg.
Arteta’s side were beaten 1-0 a week ago and have a mountain to climb if they are to reach the final later this month in Munich.
And ahead of the game, the north London side have received a major shot in the arm after Martin Odegaard, Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori were all spotted in training on Tuesday morning.
Skipper Odegaard, whose form has been called into question recently, hurt his foot during the closing stages of Saturday’s shock home defeat against Bournemouth.
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The Norway international allayed fears he had sustained a serious injury on Monday but the sight of him training with his teammates would have come as a welcome relief to his manager.
Timber, meanwhile, missed the weekend setback having limped off during the closing stages of the game against the French champions.
Ben White deputised against the Cherries, and Arteta confirmed that Arsenal will make a late call on whether to return Timber to the starting line-up on Wednesday.
‘We will assess him today whether he can start or not,’ the Spaniard said in Tuesday’s prem-match press conference.
There was also optimism that Calafiori could play a part in the Parc des Princes having been out of action since March when he injured his knee playing for Italy against Germany.
The defender travelled to Paris for Wednesday’s game, with Arteta adding: ‘He’s fit and he’s ready to play when we need him so that’s great news obviously.’
Arsenal produced a superb performance away from home in the quarter-finals to knock out Real Madrid, and Arteta is confident his side are more than capable of replicating a similar performance in Paris.
‘We need to do a lot of the things we did in the first leg but better and more consistently,’ he added.
‘If we do that, the probability for success will be very, very close to us. We’re more than capable; we’ve done it in Europe against a lot of odds.
‘A lot of people wouldn’t have said we would be in this position so that goes against history as well. Lets make our own history.’
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