Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal hardly looked off to the races in his side’s narrow 1-0 home victory over Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday night in the Champions League.
Despite a mounting cavalry of injuries and suspension, Arteta seemed to be the picture of calm postgame. He boldly claimed his team will “be flying” for Sunday’s pivot Premier League clash against Liverpool.
“Then we made life more difficult for us because we started give the ball away in not the right areas and then it was more open,” the Arsenal manager said of his side’s performance. “That didn’t help. But we have now four days. Believe me, on Sunday we’ll be flying.”
Arsenal ran out as victors thanks to an own goal by Shakhtar goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk’s 29 minutes into the match.
“We should have put the game to bed with the amount of dominance and territory that we had,” Arteta continued. “We looked tired. We lacked that sharpness with and without the ball to regain the ball in the right moments and areas and gave certain balls away that allow certain transitions.”
His side will face a red-hot Liverpool team this weekend fresh off a 2-1 victory over Chelsea last Sunday. The sides will meet at the Emirates 4:30 pm GMA (12:30 pm EST).
With seven wins in its first eight league fixtures, Liverpool pace the Premier League table with 21 points. Following a 2-0 defeat to Bournemouth when star centerback William Saliba was sent off, Arsenal sit four points back with 17 total.
Injuries continue to mount for Arteta and company. The Gunnars continue to miss captain and chief creator Martin Odegaard, while defender Jurrien Timber is also a doubt.
On Tuesday, Arteta confirmed that star winger Bukayo Saka will likely miss Sunday’s clash, saying “[Saka] wasn’t able to train yet so that’s unlikely.” The 23-year-old suffered a hamstring injury on international duty with England.
Saliba earned a red card over the weekend when he took down Bournemouth forward Evanilson. The French defender will miss the next three league fixtures, including Sunday’s matchup versus the Reds.
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This could have been an opportunity for new signing Riccardo Calafiori to start his first game at center back after being used at fullback early in the season for Arsenal. Instead, Arteta confirmed the Italian might also miss Sunday’s matchup.
“With Riccy he had to come off because he felt something,” Arteta said. “I don’t know the extent of it so in that sense not great news. He could not continue playing so, a bit of a worry.”
Liverpool enters Sunday’s clash with a relatively fresh squad. Coach Arne Slot will only have to deal with the absence of veteran goalkeeper Alisson, though deputy Caomihin Kelleher has stepped up admirably.
