Arsenal dealt triple injury blow ahead of Champions League showdown with Club Brugge | OneFootball

Gunners without William Saliba once again

Arsenal have been hit by a triple injury blow ahead of their Champions League clash against Club Brugge.

Declan Rice, Leandro Trossard and William Saliba have not travelled to Belgium for the game on Wednesday night after they were absent from training on Tuesday afternoon.

Rice is ill and Trossard is struggling with the calf problem he picked up two weeks ago against Bayern Munich.

Trossard came off the bench at Villa Park on Saturday, and scored, but he was substituted before the end of the game.

Saliba is still out injured due to the knock he picked up in training on November 29, despite Mikel Arteta previously stating he was close to returning.

“Declan was ill. He was quite sick after the game [against Aston Villa] already and he hasn’t travelled with us,” said Arteta on Tuesday night.

“He wasn’t feeling good at all. So he will have a couple of days to rest and to get his body right, but today he was already very keen to be able to play - but unfortunately he is not able to do that.

“William is still not available and Leo, again, picked up another knock in an area where he had the previous issue.

“I don’t expect that it is going to be long, but unfortunately he cannot be with us [in Brugge].”

Sidelined: William Saliba

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Arsenal have been hit by a string of injuries this season, with Cristhian Mosquera, Gabriel and Kai Havertz also set to miss the game in Brugge.

Teenager Max Dowman is also set for a spell on the sidelines after he injured his ankle last weekend.

Arsenal were plagued by injuries last season, too, but Arteta has dismissed suggestions it is down to overtraining his players.

“We don’t train,” he said. “Today we have done 20 minutes, so surely it is not because we overtrain the players?

“We don’t have time to train, but the fact that you are missing players, you are loading other players more.

“That is a consequence to that and it is really a dangerous circle that one. It is a test for the team and, so far, we have reacted very well to that.”