Arsenal will look to maintain their 100 per cent Champions League record when they visit Club Brugge on Wednesday evening in the face of a growing injury list and a demanding schedule.
Mikel Arteta’s side suffered just their second defeat of the Premier League season on Saturday, when they lost 2-1 at Aston Villa in what was their fifth game in less than two weeks.
Arteta sees injuries mount
As the Gunners close in on a place in the knockout stages, they are preparing to visit a Brugge side that sit just outside the playoff places in the League phase, but have beaten AS Monaco and drawn 3-3 with Barcelona in this season’s competition.
Arteta will take his side to Belgium with a number of injury and selection question marks, not least at the heart of his defence. First-choice centre-back duo William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes missed the defeat to Aston Villa, despite some pre-match optimism that Saliba may have been available at Villa Park after Arteta had said the Frenchman was ‘days’ away on two occasions.
Gabriel, meanwhile, has been absent since picking up an adductor injury while on international duty for Brazil against Senegal. As per Football London, he is still ‘weeks’ away from returning.
A further defensive issue saw Christian Mosquera withdrawn during the win over Brentford last week, and he is said to be out for six to eight weeks with an ankle issue.
"He's going to be out for weeks unfortunately, it's much more than what we expected," Arteta said. "But the player was feeling it, so he's going to be out for weeks."
That meant Jurrien Timber and Piero Hincapie were deployed as Arteta’s centre-back pairing against Villa, the first time the pair have partnered each other in central defence.
A fourth key player in Kai Havertz has also been ruled out for the match against Bruges. “[It’s a] Matter of weeks; let’s see how it evolves in the next few weeks,” Arteta said of the German. “He’s doing really well, he’s doing stuff on the pitch, but I think he needs some time.”
It’s not just Arsenal who are struggling with injuries, as Brugge will be without Nordin Jackers and Zaid Abner Romero, while Ludovit Reis and Lynnt Audoor are doubts.
The Belgian side have won just two of their last seven matches and sit third in the Belgian Pro League.
Following the midweek tie, Arsenal return to Premier League action with a home clash against basement dwellers Wolves on Saturday evening, before visiting Everton the following weekend, with a League Cup quarter-final against Crystal Palace on December 23.
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