Arsenal is experiencing a bit of an injury crisis. For Sunday’s North London Derby against Tottenham, the Gunners were missing injured players Kieran Tierney, Martin Odegaard, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Mikel Merino, and Riccardo Calafiori.
To the Spaniard’s great joy, Mikel Arteta’s team managed to come through with a victory. After the game, he commented, “We suffered because we had to adapt the plan because of the players that we had available.” “It was fantastic. The team became more and more eager to play that game as soon as we started hearing that information. Being a certain way at the club is a huge complement to all of them.
“This is going to be a difficult week, so instead of making excuses, we took the opposite action. We accepted the challenge, played bravely, and recognised our abilities to win the game.
Even though he won on Derby Day, Arteta is aware that he will likely face more difficult exams this week. On Sunday, Arsenal will play Manchester City in a match that will have a significant impact on the Premier League title fight. Before that, they travel to Atalanta, the winners of the Europa League, to begin their Champions League campaign.
Although the Gunners are the favourites to win, they should not be underestimated after defeating Xabi Alonso’s unbeatable Bayer Leverkusen team and Liverpool’s squad the previous season. Arteta will be scouring his brains trying to figure out how to win this one with so many players out.
At the very least, Declan Rice’s comeback will help him. The England international’s harsh red card in Arsenal’s draw with Brighton before the international break resulted in a suspension for Sunday’s North London Derby victory. The Gunners will probably go back to playing their usual 4-3-3 formation instead of the 4-2-2-2 they used to play at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
For the trip to Bergamo, Odegaard is still very much a doubt, even if Arteta has insisted that the Norwegian will be evaluated in the lead-up. Calafiori’s close associates have expressed optimism that he will return quickly from his calf injuries sustained while serving abroad.
Due to a calf injury, Zinchenko was unable to play in the victory over Spurs. Tierney, Tomiyasu, and Merino are all long-term absences who will undoubtedly miss the team’s visits to Atlanta and City. In the last moments of Sunday’s victory, Bukayo Saka also lost it, and he will be evaluated before the travel to Italy.
