Arsenal injury news for Liverpool clash including Saka, Odegaard and Calafiori updates

Mikel Arteta has insisted that will “be flying” by the time they face in the on Sunday – but he has some injury concerns.

The Gunners need to bounce back in the league following at which ended their unbeaten start on Saturday. Arteta’s side managed in the on Tuesday night, but the victory came at a cost.

Riccardo Calafiori was and could join key players Martin Odegaard and on the sidelines this weekend. William Saliba played against Shakhtar but , having been sent off against Bournemouth.

Arteta tried to sound upbeat in his press conference after the narrow win over Shakhtar. “We’ll review, have a day off, then two days to prepare the game,” he said. “Sunday is far and we are more than comfortable that we’ll be in the right place.” But the Gunners boss has some considerable issues to worry about. Mirror Football takes a look at the latest on the injury front.

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Bukayo Saka

The Arsenal winger was at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night, but rather than playing, he sat in the stands watching. Saka playing for England against in the international break and has missed the Bournemouth and Shakhtar matches.

While his issue is understood not to be severe, and , that outlook has faded in recent days. Asked about Saka’s chances of playing against Liverpool before kick-off on Tuesday night, "At the moment I'm not very hopeful. Let's see. We still have a few days."

after the match too, telling Amazon: "Saka is not training yet so he won't be available.” The 23-year-old has three goals and seven assists for Arsenal this season and would undoubtedly be a major miss this weekend.

Martin Odegaard

Odegaard won’t be fit enough to play against Liverpool, but the Arsenal skipper offered an encouraging update in for the Shakhtar game.

“I’ve been working very hard on my recovery in the past few weeks, and missing out on big Champions League nights like this just makes me more determined and motivated to get back as soon as possible,” he wrote.

“I’m feeling better and better each day, but when it’s an ankle injury you have ups and downs as well. Some days you feel really good, and then sometimes you can have a little reaction. But in general it’s getting better and I feel like I’m getting closer now.

“I’ve been doing a lot of work in the gym, and was on an anti-gravity treadmill recently, which is really good because it takes the weight off. Especially at the beginning, that was really good, to be running again like that when you’ve been offloading the leg and not using it as much as normal. That was a good feeling, helping me get back to moving in a normal way, and being able to run after not being able to do that.”

Arteta has previously stated that he is confident Odegaard will be back before the November international break. He has been sidelined since picking up an ankle injury while playing for Norway on September 9.

Riccardo Calafiori

Calafiori was against Shakhtar with an apparent knee injury. The Italy international will now be assessed by the Arsenal staff. “Ricci felt something and could not stay on," Arteta told Amazon after the 1-0 victory. "Bit of a worry."

The Arsenal boss added in his post-match press conference: “With Ricci he had to come off because he felt something. I don’t know the extent of it so in that sense not great news.”

Ben White

White was substituted at half-time against Shakhtar, sparking fears he might have picked up an injury. But asked why he took him off, Arteta replied: “Ben, it was my decision to take him out. He had a yellow card and we’ve played enough with 10 men in recent periods. They had a lot of density on that side, a lot of players on that side, so I didn’t want to take any chances there.”

Jurrien Timber

Timber has not played since the 2-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain on October 1. He was expected back after the international break, but has not featured against Bournemouth or Shakhtar.

Speaking on Monday, Arteta said: “It is going to be close. We have to see how he deals with training with the whole group. But he is pretty close.” It seems, therefore, Timber could return for the Liverpool game.

Takehiro Tomiyasu

Tomiyasu suffered a setback on the knee injury sustained in pre-season and after making a comeback as a late substitute against , he aggravated it.

Asked how long Tomiyasu will be out for, Arteta said recently: "We don’t know that. It doesn’t look like, hopefully, a long period but we have to see when he comes back how he reacts to the load and to the impact on the pitch as well.

"But we really need him, he has been incredible, his work rate, the amount of hours he has put in to get back. He did it and he was in great shape – and now he has got something else again. But, we are all behind him. He needs our support and hopefully he will be fine."

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