Fresh concern for Gunners ahead of Sporting and Man City showdown

Arsenal injury latest: Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice and Martin Odegaa

The Gunners are reeling after Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth followed their Carabao Cup final defeat and shock FA Cup exit at the hands of Southampton.

Mikel Arteta’s side bid to get back on track when they play Sporting in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final at Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, leading 1-0 from the first leg.

They then face Manchester City in a huge title showdown at the Etihad on Sunday.

Arteta has been handed a fresh injury scare over Declan Rice after Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori all missed the Bournemouth defeat.

With that in mind, here is the latest Arsenal injury news and return dates…

Declan Rice

Declan Rice sparked fresh injury concern when he missed Arsenal training on Tuesday.

Rice completed the full 90 minutes of Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth but was absent when Arsenal trained on Tuesday ahead of the Sporting game.

Declan Rice completed 90 minutes against Bournemouth but missed training on Tuesday

Asked for an update on Rice in his press conference on Tuesday ahead of the Sporting game, Arteta said: “I don’t want to do that.

“We have to wait and see. Obviously he wasn’t available to train.”

Potential return date: Unknown

Martin Odegaard

Martin Odegaard has not had any luck with injuries this season and disaster has struck again with Odegaard forced to sit out the loss to Bournemouth.

Arteta revealed that the Norway international picked up a “niggle” during the first leg win over Sporting, a game in which he was brought off in the 70th minute.

Fresh setback: Martin Odegaard

Odegaard did not train with the Arsenal squad on Tuesday, suggesting he will not be fit to face Sporting.

Potential return date: Sunday April 19, vs Man City (A)

Bukayo Saka

Bukayo Saka withdrew from England duty last month, having joined up late after Thomas Tuchel said he wanted to manage the workload of some key players.

The winger was thought to have been rested for the FA Cup quarter-final loss to Southampton, but concerns over his fitness have increased after missing out against Sporting and Bournemouth.

Saka has still not returned to training which suggests he is no nearer to a return, but Arteta is hopeful of having his vice-captain back as soon as possible.

Bukayo Saka has missed Arsenal’s last three games

Arsenal FC via Getty Images

Arteta said on Tuesday: “We have to wait until tomorrow morning to see how I feel the boys are.”

Potential return date: Sunday April 19, vs Man City (A)

Jurrien Timber

It is approaching a month to the date since Jurrien Timber last played for Arsenal.

The defender was forced off in the 2-0 win over Everton and has subsequently missed the last five games with an ankle problem that also saw him withdraw from the Netherlands squad for games against Norway and Ecuador.

Premier League needs a big Liverpool comeback vs PSG — to have a chance of having SEVEN clubs in the Champions League

This scenario is still possible.

Virgil van Dijk

The first leg between Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League quarter-final showed how big the gap between the teams is right now — total dominance from the French side, which nevertheless resulted in only 2–0 on the scoreboard.

Even if Liverpool’s chances of a comeback look slim, England are still waiting for the evening at Anfield — because before this stage people were already talking about the possibility of as many as seven Premier League clubs reaching next season’s Champions League.

How is that possible?

England were guaranteed 4 spots — and now have 5 thanks to the season ranking

This was guaranteed precisely after the first legs of the European quarter-finals — the Premier League can no longer drop out of the top 2 in the seasonal UEFA ranking, and leagues in those positions receive additional slots in the main Champions League phase.

Despite the complaints in England about their clubs’ performances in the knock-out rounds, they had already collected good points in the main phase. The battle for second place continues between Spain and Germany.

Accordingly, fifth place in the Premier League also gives a Champions League ticket. But there may be shifts.

Nottingham Forest could get an extra slot — if they win the Europa League

This is a slot that does not depend on anything else — if the Europa League is won by a team that do not qualify for the Champions League via their domestic league, they take the spot without affecting the other allocations in that league.

At the quarter-final stage, England still have Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest. The former beat Bologna 3–1, the latter drew with Porto.

More stats are available on Tribuna.com

The particularly interesting case here is Forest, because Aston Villa are very likely to qualify for the Champions League anyway. But a victory for Vitor Pereira’s team would secure a sixth Champions League place for England. Possibly even for a future Championship

Liverpool winning the Champions League and missing out on the top four would give the Premier League seven clubs

This is an unlikely scenario, which still has minimal chances of happening — but it is fuelling the conversation before the second leg against PSG.

The logic is simple as well — winning the Champions League gives a ticket for the next season without affecting the distribution of league places in the Premier League. They are simply shifted.

So, under the scenario where Liverpool triumph in the Champions League and finish fifth or lower, the situation would be as follows:

Liverpool receives injury boost ahead of PSG clash after Arne Slot concern

Liverpool held an open training session on Monday morning ahead of the Champions League clash against Paris Saint-Germain, and Arne Slot’s preparations were boosted by the return of Curtis Jones

Liverpool FC News

Michael Plant Liverpool FC Reporter

The latest from Liverpool training ahead of the PSG Champions League clash

Liverpool received an injury boost on Monday ahead of the Champions League clash against Paris Saint-Germain.

The Reds head into the quarter-final second leg trailing 2-0 from last week’s meeting in Paris, and a monumental response will be needed to overturn the deficit against the European champions.

But Liverpool’s preparations were hit with a setback when Curtis Jones sustained a knock in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Fulham. The midfielder dropped to the ground in the latter stages of the first-half and, while he managed to struggle through to the interval, was replaced by Ryan Gravenberch at the interval.

Stephen Warnock praises Liverpool’s best play ‘in weeks’ as Reds burst into lifeREAD MORE: John Aldridge disagrees with Arne Slot after Rio Ngumoha decision made

“He felt a little bit his groin,” Slot said after the game. “It wasn’t in the moment. He felt it a bit for a few minutes, so let’s hope for the best. I would be surprised if a player comes off that he is available for Tuesday.

“I would almost say welcome to our season. Every time after a win or something good happens, there is always an injury following. But it’s a win, and that’s what we should be very happy with.”

However, Jones’ chances of playing against PSG were boosted after the central midfielder took part in training at Kirby on Monday morning.

Jones picked up an injury during Saturday’s win over PSG

The full group trained as expected at the AXA Training Centre, including Alexander Isak, who came off the bench in both games last week and made his first appearances in nearly four months.

But Jones was able to join his team-mates in training on Monday morning, seemingly allaying any injury fears as he pushes for minutes against PSG. A start was always unlikely for Jones, but minutes off the bench is a possibility.

Elsewhere, Giorgi Mamardashvili will continue in goal, with Alisson Becker still not fit enough to play. Slot said of Alisson: “But he’s working very hard on his recovery, so we hope to have him back in the near future. But he doesn’t train with the team yet, so he will not be performing [on] Tuesday.”

Jeremie Frimpong had a torrid time last week, so Dominik Szoboszlai could be drafted in at right-back to take on Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, leaving Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Alisster as the midfield two behind Mohamed Salah, Florian Wirtz and, potentially, Ngumoha.

Gravenberch, Jones and captain Virgil van Dijk are all one yellow card away from being suspended for any semi-final first leg.

Predicted Liverpool XI: Mamardashvili; Szoboszlai, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Wirtz, Ngumoha; Ekitike

Doubts: Jones

Injured: Alisson, Endo, Leoni, Bradley

Time and date: 8pm on Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Venue: Anfield

How to watch: Amazon Prime