Arteta confirms Arsenal star is a doubt for Champions League quarter-final second leg – and gives update on Saka | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta says Declan Rice faces a late fitness test to see if he can be involved against Sporting.

The midfielder did not take part in the team training session ahead of the Champions League quarter-final second leg clash at the Emirates Stadium.

“We have to wait until tomorrow morning to see how the boys are and make the right decision with them,” Arteta said ahead of the game.

“We have to wait and see how he is tomorrow but obviously he wasn’t available to train.

“He’s played a lot of games and that’s part of the issue but he’s going to try to do everything he possibly can to be with us tomorrow, that’s for sure.”

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Bukayo Saka, Jurrien Timber, Martin Odegaard and Riccardo Calafiori also remain doubts having too not trained ahead of the game.

Asked for an update on Saka, Arteta said: “It was something that he was carrying for a while.

“It was an achilles issue. There is progression, hopefully it’s going to be a matter of days and weeks but we have to see when he’s loading more, how he responds to that kind of progression.”

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