Arsenal: Mikel Arteta confirms significant injury boost ahead of CL final vs PSG – ‘he is fit’ | OneFootball

Arsenal’s right-sided Dutch full back Jurrien Timber will be fit to start the side’s Champions League final against Paris St Germain on Saturday, manager Mikel Arteta has said.

Timber has been out with an injury since March, but Arteta said he was now available for Saturday’s showpiece.

“He is fit,” Arteta told reporters on Friday. “Noni (Madueke) as well.”

Arsenal, who have just won their first domestic title in 22 years, are facing PSG in Budapest ‌seeking to lift the Champions League trophy for the first time in their history.

Saturday’s clash in Budapest has the newly crowned English champions go up against a swaggering Paris St Germain side that dumped them out of the competition last year in the semi-finals.

Arsenal’s first domestic triumph in 22 years means they are going into Saturday’s showpiece with their tails up and looking to confirm their status among Europe’s elite.

“We have the opportunity tomorrow to write a new chapter in the history of the football club,” Arteta told reporters.

“We have to play tomorrow with such a clarity, a lot of courage and desire to win, but we have those three aspects.”

The Spaniard said the Premier League win had not eased the pressure on his side; rather, it had fuelled the players’ fire.

“The ambition is bigger,” Arteta said. “We have won and we want the second one,that is all we have been talking about. That has to be a platform to reach bigger destinations.”

Much has been made of the demands of the Premier League compared to France’s Ligue 1, but Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka said there would be no fatigue given the trophy at stake.

“A game like this is not going to be decided on minutes, it is going to be decided by moments,” Saka said. “It is a massive opportunity to do something special.”

Arteta said he still felt Arsenal had been unlucky to lose to PSG last year and praised their manager Luis Enrique as an “inspiration” and architect of his side’s success.

There was little room for sentiment otherwise though.

“They (PSG) are defending the trophy, they are the champions and we are here to take it away from them,” Arteta said.