Mikel Arteta heads into Matchday 4 without his two best players.
Bukayo Saka picked up a thigh injury ten minutes into the 2-2 draw against Bayern Munich on October 21, and Arsenal are bracing for an absence that could stretch into December. William Saliba remains out with a back problem and is training away from the main group, with the November international break the earliest realistic return.
Arteta said the warning signs were already clear on the pitch in Munich.
“He’s got another MRI this afternoon because he had quite a lot of fluid in the area so it was difficult to understand the extent of the injury,” he told Yahoo Sports.
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Arsenal sit seventh in the league phase on seven points after wins over Napoli and Lille and the draw in Munich. The trip to Slavia Prague at the Fortuna Arena on Wednesday is on paper the easiest draw for the English side, with the Czechs bottom of the 36-team table on a single point. Kickoff is 9pm local time.
Liverpool squeeze Istanbul in around Anfield
The tightest schedule of the week belongs to Liverpool. On Sunday the club host Arsenal at Anfield at 4.30pm local time, before the squad flies to Istanbul for Wednesday’s meeting with Fenerbahce. Liverpool are the only English club with a perfect record in the league phase: three wins, nine points and a place at the top end of the overall table.
Fenerbahce, the opponents at the Sukru Saracoglu, are being led on an interim basis by former Liverpool forward Dirk Kuyt, according to Liverpool FC. The Turkish club have two points from three matches.
Kickoff in Istanbul is 8.45pm local time.
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Barcelona-Villa is the week’s marquee tie
Matchday 4 opens on Tuesday evening with the round’s standout fixture. Aston Villa, who have three wins from three with twelve goals scored and three conceded, travel to Barcelona.
Unai Emery’s side sit second in the league phase on nine points, one place ahead of a Barcelona team that have already dropped points in one of their three matches.
At the Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris on October 26, Emery brushed off interest from Manchester United, according to Yahoo Sports.
“Aston Villa is where I am feeling now so, so comfortable,” he told the outlet.
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City pay a visit to Leipzig
Manchester City travel to RB Leipzig on Wednesday with six points from three matches. City’s one blemish came at the Etihad on October 14, when Paris Saint-Germain scored three times inside the opening half hour and won 4-2, with Erling Haaland scoring twice for the hosts.
Leipzig are 30th on three points. Kickoff at the Red Bull Arena is 8pm local time.
The top eight in the 36-team league phase go straight through to the round of 16, while the next sixteen contest a two-legged playoff for the remaining knockout places. Of the English clubs, only Liverpool and Aston Villa currently sit above the line.
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