Mikel Arteta says that Kieran Tierney “is ready” to make his Arsenal return if needed, with up to seven full-backs not training before their Champions League clash with Monaco.
Tierney has been on the bench four times this season after returning from a hamstring injury, but has not played for Arsenal since the 2023 Community Shield win over Manchester City.
Gabriel, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Riccardo Calafiori were already injury doubts for Monaco, but with Jurrien Timber and Thomas Partey also absent from training, Arteta said: “He (Tierney) 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 do it and when that happens, you have to give those opportunities to players.”
Gabriel and Calafiori have missed Arsenal’s last two games, against Manchester United and Fulham. Zinchenko started in the 2-0 win over Manchester United, missing the 1-1 draw at Fulham, while Partey and Timber played 90 minutes in both matches.
Four of the five absences coming in the full-back area compounds an existing injury issue for Arsenal, with Ben White (knee) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) already out injured.
“We have to manage a lot of the players,” Arteta added. “Some of them are probably not going to be fit tomorrow, some of them are still doubts. We still have 24 hours to make those decisions and hopefully they’re the right ones.”
Myles Lewis-Skelly and Jakub Kiwior could also fill in at left-back, but right-back will be the bigger issue for Arteta to solve with Timber, White, Tomiyasu and Partey all potentially unavailable.
William Saliba and Tierney have previous experience playing on that side of the defence. Josh Nichols, who made his first team debut against Bolton in September, could play there but Arteta added: “He’s been with some issues. We still don’t know if he is available or not.”
Further down in the academy, Josh Robinson has made 12 appearances for Mehmet Ali’s under-21s this season.
Asked whether he has an understanding of why these injuries are cropping up, Arteta said: “It’s a knock-on effect. We have a lot of joint (for example, knee) injuries which are very difficult to predict or assess. We have some through tackles that are quite difficult to avoid.
“The other one is probably overload, the amount of minutes they have to play. The knock-on effect of not having one or two players available means you have to put more stress and minutes into someone else. That’s not a good change because the consequences and loads of other players end up being much higher than you want. But this is where we are.”
Arsenal and Monaco come into matchday six placed seventh and eighth respectively in the Champions League’s new league format. Both sides are on 10 points, making the encounter crucial for a potential top eight finish for both.
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