Injuries have blighted the Gunners’ season so far but despite having to cope without key players for long stretches of the campaign, they have made it to the final four of Europe’s biggest cup competition in impressive fashion – still, a PSG side who have already knocked Liverpool and Aston Villa out will present an especially stern test.
Mikel Merino, Ben White and Riccardo Calafiori are among the doubts for Tuesday night’s game, while there are also updates on the availability of Kai Havertz, who is set to make an early return from a hamstring injury that had been expected to keep him out for the rest of the season.
As with Merino, Arteta simply said that he will “wait and see” whether White could play this week. Neither injury is expected to be serious, but their participation is very much in doubt.
Riccardo Calafiori is another doubt – the versatile defender hasn’t played since sustaining a knee injury during the last international break, and while he is close to a return it remains unclear whether he will be involved against PSG. It is, in any case, unlikely that the summer signing will start after another relatively lengthy lay-off.
With White and Calafiori both doubts, Arsenal’s defence may well be heavily depleted for the first leg. Key centre-half Gabriel Magalhães will not play again this season after undergoing surgery on a hamstring injury, while Takehiro Tomiyasu is still sidelined by a long-standing knee injury and is expected to be out of action until October.
The Gunners have been handed a major injury boost after Mikel Merino trained ahead of the first leg of their Champions League semi-final with Paris Saint-Germain.
Ben White has also been passed fit for the game at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.
Merino and White missed last Wednesday’s 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace.
Both players were left out of the squad entirely and Mikel Arteta confirmed they were not fit enough to even make the bench.
Merino trained with the Arsenal squad on Monday afternoon
“They couldn’t be involved – if not they would have been,” said Arteta. “Unfortunately, after the game [against Ipswich] we had some issues and they are not fit.”
Asked after the draw with Palace if Merino and White would be fit to face PSG, Arteta said: “We’ll have to wait and see, they weren’t able to be in the squad today.”
Riccardo Calafiori has been out since March after injuring his knee while on Italy duty.
Arteta confirmed recently that the defender was progressing well in his recovery in the hope he could feature against PSG.
Jorginho will miss the first leg against PSG with the a rib injury he suffered against Brentford this month.
The Gunners will also be without Thomas Partey for their first leg against PSG.
The Ghana midfielder is suspended after picking up his third yellow card in the Champions League this season in the second-leg win over Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.
Mikel Arteta has told reporters that the German forward is progressing more quickly than expected with his rehabilitation and that “if I have to bet on him [coming back] earlier than expected, I would say yes”. It is, however, extremely unlikely that Kai Havertz is involved against PSG, with Arteta saying that he felt the Champions League semi-final was “too close”. Havertz is not believed to have returned to full team training yet.
All in all, Arsenal are expected to be without six first-team players (Partey, Jorginho, Havertz, Tomiyasu and the two Gabriels) with three more (White, Merino and Calafiori) all significant doubts for Tuesday evening’s game at the Emirates.
