Arsenal without 5 players for Athletic Bilbao game

Arsenal begin their Champions League campaign against Athletic Bilbao on the road tomorrow.

The Gunners picked up a 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Saturday.

It was a perfect response after the disappointing 1-0 loss at Liverpool before the international break.

Arsenal will now be aiming to build momentum with back-to-back victories in all competitions.

The players have already travelled to San Mames for the Champions League curtain-raiser against Athletic.

Ahead of the game, manager Mikel Arteta has confirmed that the club will be without multiple first-team stars.

Gabriel Jesus is recovering from a long-term knee injury. Arteta has already hinted that he may not return until December.

The Brazilian is one of the absentees for the trip alongside Kai Havertz, who sustained a knee injury at Old Trafford last month.

Martin Odegaard is out with a shoulder issue, while Ben White may have picked up a recurrence of his injury (unknown).

The 27-year-old was in training before the Nottingham Forest game, but has surprisingly been ruled out for tomorrow.

In his pre-match, Arteta said: “Gabi [Jesus], Kai [Havertz], Ben [White] and Martin [Odegaard] are still out, unfortunately.”

Alongside the quartet, Bukayo Saka won’t take any part in the game as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury.

There is anticipation that he could be fit for the Premier League clash against Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium.

Arteta did not provide an exact return date for the England international in his presser.

The Gunners exceeded expectations in the Champions League last campaign as they reached the last four of the competition.

They created numerous clear-cut chances against Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-final, but were not clinical enough upfront.

Arteta will aim to go all the way this time around. The club certainly have the attacking upgrade to do so compared to last season.

Despite having Saka, Odegaard, Havertz and Jesus on the sidelines, the club are heavy favourites to beat Athletic away from home.

Viktor Gyokeres, Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze have had fine starts to their Arsenal careers and were hugely impressive last weekend.

The trio are likely to start against Athletic tomorrow. One of Gabriel Martinelli or Ethan Nwaneri could get the nod alongside them in attack.

Eze has played on the left wing in his short Arsenal career thus far, but could start in his preferred number 10 role with Martinelli out wide.

Arsenal have never faced Athletic in a competitive fixture, but they recently beat them 3-0 in the Emirates Cup, where Gyokeres scored with a powerful header.

Stats from Transfermarkt.com

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