Mikel Arteta arrived in Portugal on Monday evening with a noticeably weakened squad, confirming in his pre-match press conference that both Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber will miss the Champions League quarter-final first leg against Sporting CP on Tuesday night at the Estadio Jose Alvalade. Coming off back-to-back cup defeats — the Carabao Cup final loss to Manchester City and last Saturday’s FA Cup exit to Southampton — Arsenal’s injury situation is adding anxiety to an already delicate psychological moment for the club.
Saka withdrew from the England squad during the international break with an undisclosed problem and was not seen in training at London Colney on Monday morning. Timber pulled out of the Netherlands squad with a reported groin concern before the break and has been recovering at the training ground. Arteta was measured but direct when asked for an update.
“They’re having trouble,” he said. “They’re not ready yet. Let’s see. Hopefully they’re going to be ready for the weekend if everything goes well.”
The injury list heading into Lisbon extends beyond the two high-profile absentees. Eberechi Eze remains sidelined with a calf problem picked up before the international break. Piero Hincapie returned from Ecuador duty with an unspecified issue and is also unavailable, while Mikel Merino continues his recovery from foot surgery. That’s five senior players unavailable for a Champions League quarter-final, which represents a genuine selection headache regardless of how deep the squad nominally is.
The better news, and Arteta leaned into it, is the availability of the players who most feared might miss the trip. Gabriel Magalhaes, who hobbled off against Southampton with a knee problem in the second half on Saturday, trained before the squad flew to Lisbon. Declan Rice, who also sustained an injury on international duty, was confirmed fit. Leandro Trossard, similarly flagged as a concern after withdrawing from Belgium duty, was declared available. Arteta simply replied “yes” to each question about those three, which amounted to confirmation that Arsenal’s more critical components are ready to go.
The match carries enormous significance for Arsenal’s season as it now stands. With the FA Cup already gone and the Premier League title appearing the most realistic domestic prize, the Champions League represents the other half of what Arteta has described as “the most beautiful period ahead of us.” Arsenal have never won the competition’s premier trophy, and reaching even a semi-final for the first time since 2009 would be a major marker.
Sporting arrive at this tie in genuinely strong form, having won their last three matches while scoring at least four goals in each. Their captain and midfield anchor Morten Hjulmand serves a suspension for the first leg, which represents a tactical advantage for Arsenal and a problem Sporting’s manager Rui Borges will need to work around carefully. Hjulmand’s absence disrupts the structural balance of a side that relies on his ability to screen the defence and distribute from deep.
There is also the subplot of Viktor Gyokeres returning to face the club that made him. The Swedish striker, who spent two seasons at Sporting before Arsenal signed him in the summer, is expected to be in Arteta’s starting line-up despite the impact he made off the bench against Southampton last weekend, where he scored the equaliser. Arteta has resisted the temptation to play him from the start in domestic competition since his arrival, but a Champions League quarter-final against his former club feels like the occasion to change that.
Arteta addressed the psychological dimension of the past fortnight directly in his pre-match remarks, urging his players to transform disappointment into fuel rather than allow doubt to seep in. “Feel that pain, feel that emotion and use it to be better and to improve,” he told reporters. “We were very clear on what happened, the reason why it happened. So, hungrier than ever, very excited and very, very motivated for tomorrow’s game.”
Arsenal’s European form this season has been impressive enough to justify confidence regardless of the domestic cups. They topped the Champions League group phase with eight wins from eight, conceding just four goals, and eliminated Bayer Leverkusen and then Bodo/Glimt in the rounds leading to this stage. There is a version of Arsenal, their best version, that is more than capable of handling Sporting CP even without two important players.
The question Tuesday night will answer is whether this version of Arsenal — slightly depleted, slightly unsteady after an emotionally rough two weeks — can draw on that European consistency when the domestic troubles are still raw.
