Arteta has pre-match questions to answer before announcing Thursday’s starting XI

Mikel Arteta addressed the press prior to Arsenal’s home match v Slavia Prague.

The Arsenal manager is dealing with several key injury question marks which could dramatically impact his starting XI for this match.

Martin Odegaard…
“Again, we will assess today how he’s feeling. He’s been carrying an injury for the last two or three days since he got injured with the national team. We have a few of them from the last game when we played Liverpool, so today will be the day where we see where everybody is at, and look at who is available tomorrow.”

Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe and Granit Xhaka…
“Today is the day when they are going to be training fully with the team and we’ll see how they feel.”

David Luiz underwent a minor surgical repair on his knee over the weekend, and will be out of commission for the next few weeks.

And, then there is Kieran Tierney..
“We have to first make sure that he doesn’t need any surgery, which it doesn’t look like. If that’s the case, the timeframe will be around [four to six weeks]. It could have been worse because the action looks quite scary but he’s feeling better and the damage is not that bad. At the end of the day, it’s not the bad news that maybe we were expecting after the game.”

Could Tierney play again this season?
“I don’t know, we’re going to have to go day by day to see how Kieran is feeling, how he is reacting. When we get close to playing time and training with the team, depending where we are and how he’s feeling, we’ll make a decision.”

Obviously, Arsenal are at a point in this difficult season where the absence of key personnel does not improve the club’s chances of finishing with a bang.

I’m concerned a hangover from Saturday’s dismal performance could be a factor today, however, I still feel the Gunners will have enough talent to come away with the win.

COYG!

Gunner1953

[Arteta’s quotes are courtesy of Arsenal.com]