Kieran Tierney will start for Arsenal against Monaco (Image: Getty)
Arsenal are grappling with a defensive injury nightmare ahead of their Champions League showdown with Monaco, with as many as seven defenders in doubt for the clash. Forgotten man Kieran Tierney is set to start and make his first appearance for the north Londoners since August 2023.
Jurrien Timber and Thomas Partey, who filled in at full-back during the 1-1 draw with Fulham at the weekend, were notably absent from training before Wednesday’s game.
Also missing from training at London Colney were Gabriel, Riccardo Calafiori and Oleksandr Zinchenko, all of whom sat out the match at Craven Cottage. Takehiro Tomiyasu is still sidelined with a long-term issue.
The injury crisis could see Myles Lewis-Skelly, an 18-year-old with only two senior Arsenal appearances, step into the limelight at the Emirates.
“We have to manage a lot of the players, so they’re probably not going to be fit for tomorrow and are a doubt,” Arteta admitted. “I still have 24 hours to make those decisions and hopefully the right ones. We have to accept the challenge and its opportunities for other players to do that.”
Tierney, out of action since tearing his hamstring at the Euros in June, will start, Arteta confirmed. He said: “He is ready, he’s training really well and he’s going to have an opportunity for sure.
“The way the team is looking at the moment, he is going to do that for that reason and because he’s earned it. The way he’s behaved, the way he’s been with us because he’s willing to it and when that happens, you have to give those opportunities to players.”
Arteta, who has been forced to shuffle his defence nine times this season, previously described the ongoing injury situation as a “nightmare” just before the international break last month.
“I was hoping it would improve, and it did improve, but then very quickly after the first game we started to have issues and more issues than we expected,” he admitted.
“The good news is that the team still reacts and plays in the way that we want and becomes so dominant, and we want to do that regardless of who plays and I think that belief is within the team and it’s really positive.”
Mikel Arteta has been hit by an injury crisis at Arsenal (Image: Getty)
Tierney, who spent the previous season on loan at Real Sociedad, has been out of the spotlight at Arsenal for quite some time.
The 27-year-old left-back hasn’t donned an Arsenal jersey for 492 days – since their Community Shield penalty shootout win over Manchester City – and last started a match for the Gunners in a 3-0 defeat to Brighton at home on May 14, 2023. A summer transfer seemed likely until an injury intervened.
Arsenal meanwhile recently missed a chance to capitalise on their rivals’ stumbles, following Liverpool’s postponed match against Everton and Manchester City’s draw at Crystal Palace.
They now sit six points behind Arne Slot’s team in the Premier League standings, with the Reds holding a game in hand.
William Saliba’s crucial second-half equaliser for Arsenal against Fulham emerged from a corner, marking the Gunners’ third consecutive goal from this set-piece and their 23rd since last season began.
Despite Arsenal’s struggle to carve out significant opportunities at Craven Cottage, Mikel Arteta remains unfazed by their recent inability to net from open play in two successive matches.
“I don’t worry because when I watch the game and the situations we have in open play and what the opposition has created in open play, I don’t know if we can do much more than that,” he explained.
“The more I watch it, how the hell we draw that game, it’s difficult to understand but that’s the beauty of football as well. We will adapt, and obviously pull our heads up.”
Currently, Arsenal sits seventh in the revamped 36-team Champions League standings, level on 10 points with their Wednesday adversaries.
Source: https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1987101/Arsenal-Kieran-Tierney-Monaco