We heard from the managers of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City on Monday, ahead of their respective clubs’ UEFA Champions League last-16 ties.
We’ll round up the key injury updates below.
ARSENAL
Jurrien Timber (ankle) won’t face Bayer Leverkusen after hobbling out of Arsenal’s win over Everton on Saturday.
Martin Odegaard (knee) won’t recover in time, either.
“Yes, both of them are out.” – Mikel Arteta on Jurrien Timber and Martin Odegaard
Mikel Arteta thinks Timber will only be out for “days”, so there’s a chance he’ll be fit for the EFL Cup final next weekend. The Gunners don’t play again in the Premier League till mid-April.
“We don’t know, I think with him it will be a matter of days, but not sure.” – Mikel Arteta on if Jurrien Timber could be fit for the EFL Cup final
“So we’re really pushing, he really wants to try to be available, but we’ll have to wait and see in the next few days when he trains with the team how he feels. We know the game that we’re going to be playing in a few days again, and the more players that we have the better.” – Mikel Arteta on if Martin Odegaard could be fit for the EFL Cup final
Arteta was asked if Ben White is ready to start, after Cristhian Mosquera came on for the injured Timber instead in Gameweek 30.
“Yeah, he’s in a much better place. He’s been very unlucky this season in certain moments. He had very good moments as well throughout the season, so yeah, we need everybody available. We know what Ben gives us when he’s at his best, and he trained today. He feels good, so we need everybody’s contribution.” – Mikel Arteta on Ben White
There is one bit of good news: Leandro Trossard is fit again after a recent “niggle”.
“He’s okay, he felt good, so he’s available.” – Mikel Arteta on Leandro Trossard
Arteta said he had “no other news”, while Mikel Merino (foot) remains unavailable.
CHELSEA
After a mostly injury-free season, Reece James (hamstring) has finally picked up an issue.
Liam Rosenior said the defender-cum-midfielder will miss the PSG game for sure, with reports suggesting he’ll be out for “several weeks”.
“So, with Reece, he’s felt something in his hamstring at the end of the game against Newcastle. Really frustrating and disappointing one for us, we don’t know the full extent of that injury. But that rules him out for tomorrow’s game.
“It could be [serious]. With a hamstring injury, it’s never great. And for Reece, hopefully, we can just get him scanned, we can find out the full extent and then we know more.” – Liam Rosenior on Reece James
Elsewhere, it sounds like Filip Jorgensen (groin) is in a similar boat: out and awaiting the results of a scan.
Malo Gusto is ill, but Estevao (hamstring) is back in training and could feature.
“Malo [Gusto], he’s ill today. So we’ll have a look at him for tomorrow and the other one.
“Estevao is back in training. He’ll be a part of the group. We’ll assess whether he can take part in the game at some point tomorrow.
“And with Filip [Jorgensen], he’s felt something in his groin after the PSG game. And again, we’ll get him scanned to find out the full extent of that injury.” – Liam Rosenior
Jamie Gittens (hamstring) had a setback last week and was, along with James, Gusto and Jorgensen, absent from training on Monday.
It’s too soon for long-term absentee Levi Colwill (knee), despite his return to “modified training”.
MANCHESTER CITY
There was no injury news from Pep Guardiola on Monday.
Nor were there any clues from the training ground, with Guardiola cancelling the session.
“Listen, we were in Madrid. We arrive late in the hotel, to sleep, and come back in the morning, travelling here. Day after here, no training, go to London, arrive yesterday at 2:30 a.m. So, today, you recover. Today, you cannot do anything because the players who play, they are still at home. Tomorrow, we train.” – Pep Guardiola on why he cancelled training
City were again without Josko Gvardiol (leg) and Rico Lewis (ankle) at the weekend.
John Stones (ankle) and Savinho (hamstring) also reportedly missed out for precautionary reasons on Saturday.
Guardiola’s mind is pretty much made up regarding team selection.
“The selection I have already done, more or less. Yeah, I know the team is going to start tomorrow. I don’t have any doubts. One doubt, maybe, but the rest is clear.” – Pep Guardiola
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