Mikel Arteta confirms huge Arsenal injury blow for PSG amid Martin Odegaard concern
More injury worries for the Gunners.
Mikel Arteta has confirmed Jurrien Timber could miss Arsenal’s Champions League semi-final clash against Paris Saint-Germain next week.
The Netherlands international was replaced late on in Tuesday’s first leg in north London with Ousmane Dembele’s goal giving the Ligue 1 champions a 1-0 lead at the halfway stage in the tie.
Timber was not included in the Arsenal squad for Saturday night’s Premier League game against Bournemouth where they fell to a 2-1 defeat despite taking the lead in the first-half.
Arteta confirmed ahead of the game the former Ajax star was ruled out with a knock.
Speaking post-match, Arteta told reporters he is not confident Timber will be available in Paris next week.
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‘Confident? No,’ Arteta told a press conference.
‘At the moment no because he wasn’t able to play here and we play again in four days.’
Arteta was also quizzed on an incident late on where Martin Odegaard appeared to kick the ground while taking on a shot.
‘I haven’t had a chance yet to speak to the doctor giving me an update on that so I don’t know,’ the Arsenal boss said.
Arsenal are already without Kai Havertz, Gabriel Magalhaes, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Gabriel Jesus with Jorginho and Riccardo Calafiori also still unavailable.
Arteta opted to start his key players on Saturday night with Declan Rice playing 74 minutes.
Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli were replaced with just four minutes of the game remaining with William Saliba and Odegaard playing the full 90.
Arsenal missed the chance to build some momentum ahead of their trip to the French capital with Arteta calling on his players to use their rage as motivation for that season-defining game.
‘We certainly wanted to create a really good vibe. A positive result would really help us to build what we wanted towards Wednesday,’ Arteta said.
‘Every time you don’t win a game, especially when you lose, you are very frustrated.
‘What we have created now is a lot of rage, anger, frustration and a bad feeling in the tummy.
‘So, make sure that we use that for Wednesday to have a massive performance in Paris, win the game and be in the final.
‘Let’s use all of that ahead of Wednesday. That is what we have to do.’
