Mikel Arteta is ready to hand Kieran Tierney his first appearance for Arsenal in over a year when the Gunners host Monaco on Wednesday night.
Arsenal have been hit by an injury crisis and could be without six defenders in the Champions League, while Thomas Partey is a doubt, too.
Gabriel, Jurrien Timber, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Riccardo Calafiori all missed training on Tuesday afternoon, along with Partey.
Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu are definitely out of Wednesday’s game with knee injuries.
It means Tierney could make his first appearance for Arsenal since August 2023, when he played in the Community Shield against Manchester City.
“He is ready, he’s training really well and he’s going to have an opportunity for sure,” said Arteta.
“The way the team is looking at the moment, he is going to do that for that reason and because he’s earned it.
Opportunity knocks: Kieran Tierney is poised to make his first Arsenal appearance since August 2023 against Monaco
Arsenal FC via Getty Images
“The way he’s behaved, the way he’s been with us because he’s willing to it and when that happens, you have to give those opportunities to players.”
Arsenal have been hit with a raft of injuries this season, especially in defence. Jakub Kiwior and William Saliba are the only two first-team defenders not to be unavailable for a match this season due to injury.
“It’s a knock-on effect,” said Arteta. “We have a lot of joint injuries, which are very difficult to predict or assess.
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“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 will give the doubtful quintet of Calafiori, Gabriel, Partey, Timber and Zinchenko late fitness tests to see if they can face Monaco.
“We have to manage a lot of the players,” said Arteta. “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. It is what it is.
“We have to accept the challenge, and there are opportunities for other players. In the ideal scenario, we are in charge of those decisions because it (injuries) is forcing us to make them for the wrong reasons. But we need to accept the reality and move forward.”
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