Arteta: No Odegaard but Saka, Timber could return on Tuesday
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Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber could be back from injury as Arsenal host Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Saka was substituted with a muscular issue in England’s 2-1 defeat to Greece during the international break and was not involved at all as Arsenal suffered a first defeat of the season at Bournemouth on Saturday. Timber also missed out, having missed out on the Netherlands’ international games and the Arsenal win over Southampton at the start of October.
Speaking to the media in Monday’s pre-match press conference, Arteta revealed Saka could return to action for the Gunners’ third game of the Champions League league phase, though captain Martin Odegaard will not feature.
“They are closer and both progressing really well,” Arteta told reporters.
“Martin is still not fit. With Bukayo, let’s see how he feels with the training sessions we have today.”
The same applies to Timber, though the manager said he is yet to join in with a full training session.
“I think it’s going to be close. Obviously we have to see how he deals with training with the whole group because he hasn’t done that yet. He will be pretty close hopefully.”
Arteta also said Timber’s issue was “muscular” and not to do with his knee, an obvious concern for fans after he missed almost the entirety of last season after rupturing his ACL.
The Arsenal boss was more reserved on whether or not there could be a first Champions League start for Ethan Nwaneri after another bright substitute appearance at the weekend. Nwaneri’s only Arsenal start to date saw him score a brace against Bolton in the League Cup back in September.
“I think it’s identifying the moment, understanding where he is, where the team is, and what is the optimal moment to throw a player into that context,” Arteta said.
“He’s already done a lot in a short period of time, so let’s take it step by step and make sure those steps are consistennt and can allow him to grow in the manner and the form we want in the team.”
With Odegaard missing out and Saka still not guaranteed to be fit, Arteta will have to consider how to get more creativity into the team than was on show against Bournemouth even before William Saliba’s red card.
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