Mikel Arteta has confirmed both Jurrien Timber and Martin Odegaard will miss Arsenal’s Champions League knockout clash against Bayer Leverkusen.
The Bundesliga side visit the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night as both teams battle for a spot in the quarter-finals following last Wednesday’s 1-1 draw at the BayArena.
But Arsenal will have to do it without Timber (ankle) and their captain Odegaard (knee) after the Dutchman was forced off in the 2-0 win over Everton on Saturday evening.
The Spaniard said on Monday afternoon when asked for an update on the pair: “Yes both of them are out.”
When asked if Timber could return for Sunday’s Carabao Cup final versus Manchester City at Wembley, Arteta added: “We don’t know, I think with him it will be a matter of days, but not sure.”
The Arsenal boss did make it clear Odegaard is trying to get himself back in contention to feature this weekend, revealing: “Yeah, so we’re really pushing, he really wants to try to be available, but we’ll have to wait and see in the next few days when he trains with the team how he feels, we know the game that we’re going to be playing in a few days again, and the more players that we have the better.”
In more positive news, Leandro Trossard is ready to return to the matchday squad.The Belgian suffered a fitness issue which forced him off in the FA Cup at Mansfield and he’s missed the past two fixtures, despite training pre-Leverkusen.
Arsenal have no other injury worries either and full-back Ben White is now ready to feature again following a series of frustrating fitness problems.
Cristhian Mosquera slotted in at right-back in place of Timber – ahead of White – last weekend but the England international is now ready to prove his worth for the Gunners.
Arteta said of the 28-year-old: “Yeah, he’s in a much better place, he’s been very unlucky this season in certain moments, he had very, very good moments as well throughout the season, so we need everybody available, we know what Ben gives us when he’s at his best, and he trained today, he feels good, so we need everybody’s contribution.”
Arsenal are striving to reach the Champions League quarter-finals for the third consecutive year.
Last season, they were beaten by PSG in the semi-finals and were eliminated to Bayern Munich in the last-eight in 2024.
The Gunners are looking to sign off for the last international break of the club football season in style as they embark on one of the biggest weeks of their season.