Arsenal will aim to continue a flawless start to the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League campaign when they lock horns with Slavia Praha at the Fortuna Arena on Tuesday evening. Mikel Arteta has new fitness issues to worry about ahead of his side’s latest fixture.
Arteta has been sweating over the fitness of Martin Zubimendi and Viktor Gyokeres after the duo sustained niggles in the Premier League clash with Burnley this past weekend. While the former will serve a suspension on Tuesday, the latter will not play a part against Slavia Praha.
The duo has joined Martin Odegaard, Noni Madueke, Gabriel Jesus, and Kai Havertz on the sidelines. Meanwhile, during his pre-match press conference, Arteta provided a fitness update on Gyokeres, ruling the Swedish striker out of the Champions League clash with Slavia Praha.
The Arsenal manager said, “He’s definitely not available. He hasn’t trained today, and we need to do some more tests and scans in the next few days to understand the extent of the injury, but for this game he’s not available. I am concerned because he hasn’t had many muscular issues and he had to leave the pitch.”
“He was feeling something and that’s obviously never a good sign. Especially for a player that is very, very explosive, so we are digging in a little bit more to understand where we are in terms of the injury and we will announce it when we know more. Well obviously he was very disappointed after the match with what he felt but this is part of football.”
“At the end of the day, if you expect a linear line, everything going up, it’s not going to happen. If he’s got something he’s going to have to deal with, we will help him to do that. He was in a really good moment, in really good form, he’s very important for the team. But for tomorrow, we don’t have him, so that’s it.”
David Raya is an automatic pick between the sticks, with Arsenal lining up in a 4-2-3-1 formation in front of him against Slavia Praha on Tuesday. The backline will feature Ben White, Cristhian Mosquera, Gabriel Magalhaes, and Myles Lewis-Skelly. That will allow Arteta to rest Jurrien Timber, William Saliba, and Riccardo Calafiori.
As for the midfield unit, Christian Norgaard will replace Martin Zubimendi as Declan Rice’s partner in the double pivot. Eberechi Eze will reprise the no. 10 role, with Leandro Trossard and Bukayo Saka being the two wide attackers. Finally, Mikel Merino will lead the line for the away side in Gyokeres’s absence.
Predicted Arsenal XI: Raya; Ben White, Mosquera, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly; Norgaard, Rice; Saka, Eze, Trossard; Merino
