Mikel Arteta has said Arsenal “won’t feel sorry for ourselves” despite facing a mounting injury crisis ahead of Sunday’s clash with Premier League leaders Liverpool.
Arsenal will be without William Saliba through suspension while Bukayo Saka (hamstring), Riccardo Calafiori (knee) and Jurriën Timber (muscular problem) were all unable to take part in training on Friday.
Captain Martin Ødegaard (ankle) and defender Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) — who has performed well marking Liverpool winger Mohamed Salah in previous meetings — are both ruled out and Arteta admitted at a Friday press conference he was still unsure of his starting line-up.
“Until tomorrow, no [I don’t know my team],” Arteta said. [There will be] a lot of drawing. A lot of possibilities, a lot of ifs. Probably the team that we start won’t be the team that finishes the game.
“It happens every week. I have to prepare for the scenarios: What happens if, what contexts the game throws at you and how prepared we are after to make the changes we need to do. Who’s available to play 90 minutes, who is not? That’s always the case.
“Obviously we didn’t want to be in that situation, but we are really lucky as well to have the squad that we have, to have the players that we have, to have the attitude that we have.
“When it comes down to reacting against a difficult situation, we don’t feel sorry for ourselves — face it. We are a team that we know how good we are as well and how difficult we can be for the opponents. And having that ruthless mentality is something that I love.
“I love watching individuals and teams react to that. It is a [down] look? I hate it. I haven’t seen it in the staff, I haven’t seen it upstairs, I haven’t seen anyone talk about it.
“Get on with it. Get on with it. Show your teeth. Show how much you want it. This means opportunities for other people, opportunities for us as a team to rebel against certain situations. We need the crowd more, on Sunday even more. Let’s keep going.”
Arteta does have Jakub Kiwior and Oleksandr Zinchenko available as he considers how to reshuffle his defence but the Spaniard could turn to teenage academy graduates Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri as they seek to end Arne Slot’s strong start as Liverpool boss, winning 11 out of his first 12 games.
“They are in contention,” he said. “They always give us the option and the possibility to start the game.
“Myles came on the other night [against Shakhtar Donetsk] and he did really well. Ethan the same. They are first-team players. They are with us and we treat them and value the same way as any other player.
“They don’t feel much — especially those two — and that is something really positive. It brings the crowd together as well, it creates energy in the team, that’s something really good. It is about throwing them in the best moment with the right players around them, which is something really important as well.”
Meanwhile, James King is set to re-join Arsenal as director of football operations.
King left the club in 2022 to join the Professional Footballers’ Association but will leave the role vacated by Richard Garlick, who was promoted to managing director earlier this year following Vinai Venkatesham’s departure.
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