Mikel Arteta Delivers Injury Update on Three Arsenal Stars as PSG Second Leg Looms | OneFootball

Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal have matches on Saturday ahead of the second leg of the UEFA Champions League semifinal on Wednesday night at Parc des Princes.

The Gunners will welcome Bournemouth to the Emirates Stadium. Meanwhile, the Parisians will travel to Stade de la Meinau and face an upstart RC Strasbourg side battling for a Champions League spot.

Both teams have challenging opponents and will likely rotate squads, focusing entirely on the midweek game. There are 90 minutes left for one team to push their ticket to the final.

Mikel Arteta offers injury update to key players

Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

Ahead of the match against Bournemouth, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta provided injury updates to key players like Jorginho, Riccardo Calafiori, and Kai Havertz.

“Calafiori is out, Jorginho is still out,” Arteta said (h/t Arsenal). “Jorginho’s got a bit more complicated than expected. Thankfully, he’s fine, he’s feeling good, he’s recovering well, but yeah, it was a bit more than what we wanted. I think I’ll leave it to the doctor if he wants to clarify or judge that.

He also noted whether Jorginho and Havertz can play before the 2024-25 season ends.

“I think so, yeah. Hopefully, if everything goes well in the next week or so, I think [Jorginho] will gradually integrate in the team, yeah,” Arteta added. “I think if everything goes the way it’s going at the moment and the way it’s planned, I think [Havertz] will have a chance to play a few games here in the season.”

With all three players not seeing action against Bournemouth this weekend, it’s unlikely either of them will play in the second leg, but with the Gunners up against the wall, they could roll them out off the bench if they need to.