Mikel Arteta is hopeful Bukayo Saka and captain Martin Odegaard will be fit to face Bayern Munich on Wednesday night, but was unable to confirm if the pair will definitely play.
Arteta and the Arsenal fans will be desperate to see the duo in action for the second leg of their Champions League quarter final against the German giants.
The pairs absence would be a major blow to the Gunners’ chances of progressing to the semi finals given their importance to the side.
Arteta sweating on fitness of Saka and Odegaard
Saka was seen limping towards the end of Arsenal’s disappointing 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa at the Emirates on Sunday, while Odegaard was unable to complete the match and had to come off.
Speaking in the aftermath of the Villa defeat which could have ended the Gunners’ title hopes Arteta revealed the Norway international felt something and couldn’t continue.
Ahead of the second leg, with the tie finely posed at 2-2 after a brilliant game in north London the Spaniard provided a fitness update on the pair, confirming they will both need late fitness tests.
“We had less than 48 hours to recover from the game [against Villa]”, the 42-year-old said in his pre match press conference.
“We have done very, very little training, so we will assess them tomorrow and see how they are.”
The Arsenal manager also insisted that the defeat to Villa would have no bearing on the game in Munich.
“We threw the game away but regardless of that result, it’s going to have no impact on what happens tomorrow”, the Spaniard added.
“We’ll refocus and start to build the confidence and the trust [to get] the standard of performance we’ll have to put in tomorrow to beat them.”
Saka and Odegaard have been instrumental for Arsenal this season with the England international scoring 18 goals in all competitions, with four of those coming in the Champions League.
Odegaard has scored 10 goals in all competitions with two of those coming in Europe.
They are really arsenal now.