Martin Odegaard will continue his spell on the sidelines when Arsenal and Atletico Madrid face off at the Emirates in a UEFA Champions League tie on Tuesday.
Arsenal will aim to continue a flawless start to the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League when they welcome Atletico Madrid to the Emirates on Tuesday night. Mikel Arteta has received a positive update on the team news front ahead of his side’s latest fixture.
Piero Hincapie is finally fit and available after recovering from a groin injury that forced him to miss nearly a month of action. However, skipper Martin Odegaard remains the most notable absentee due to a knee injury.
The Norwegian international accompanies Noni Madueke, Gabriel Jesus, and Kai Havertz in the treatment room, with the quartet recovering from knee injuries. Meanwhile, during his pre-match press conference, Arteta provided a fitness update on Hincapie.
The Arsenal manager said, “He will be available. I think [the Fulham] game came a bit too early for him, so he had another two very good sessions and now he’s ready to go.”
Meanwhile, Arteta discussed the difficulty of preparing for a match against Atletico Madrid. He said, “On this one, I think the hardest thing is the time that you have. It’s basically a day when you can’t really do much to prepare, so it’s understanding the time that we have to spend to analyse and understand that.”
“They have evolved as a team from where they were probably a year ago to now, and how they can change in relation to the context of the match, which is something very specific for this team. In order to prepare in the best way, you want to give [the players] everything, but be able to simplify the information and make it as concrete and as clear as possible for us being in the best position to implement what we want to do tomorrow.”
David Raya is an automatic pick between the sticks, with Arsenal lining up in a 4-3-3 formation in front of him against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday. The backline will feature Jurrien Timber, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, and Riccardo Calafiori.
As for the midfield unit, there is no looking past Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi, and Eberechi Eze. Finally, Viktor Gyokeres will lead the line for the home side against Atletico Madrid, with Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard being the two wide attackers. So, Gabriel Martinelli will be a backup option on the bench again.
Predicted Arsenal XI: Raya; Timber, Magalhaes, Saliba, Calafiori; Eze, Zubimendi, Rice; Saka, Gyokeres, Trossard