Mikel Arteta hopes Arsenal will be able to call upon Gabriel, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Riccardo Calafiori for Wednesday’s clash with Monaco.
The trio missed Sunday’s trip to Fulham due to injury and, in their absence, the Gunners were held to a 1-1 draw.
Arsenal have been hit hard by fitness issues in defence this season, with Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu also out right now because of knee injuries.
And asked if Calafiori, Gabriel and Zinchenko could be back for Wednesday when Arsenal host Monaco in the Champions League, Arteta said: “I hope, but it’s more a question for the doctors and physios to understand where we are.
“We are missing a lot of players in the backline. The good thing is that whatever we put there they respond. They respond with a good attitude and performance.
“We know that when we have consistency there [in defence] how much it’s giving us. That’s a different season. It’s bringing different challenges. We’re trying to face them and we’re going to continue in that direction.”
Without Gabriel and Calafiori against Fulham, Arteta opted to play Jurrien Timber at left-back and Thomas Partey on the other flank.
“They understand the situation that we are in where we have been missing players since the start of the season,” said Arteta.
“Trying to help the team by really feeling it. We are asking them to do things that they have never done. They buy into that and that’s really good
“I’m really pleased with the performance of Jakub as well. We had to change the whole unit. Jakub there and Jurrien on the left, they’ve never played together and Thomas as a fullback.
“Okay he come in and he does it. Jorgi comes in and he was excellent. That’s it, they are not available. We have to respond to that and I’m very happy with the way they did it.”
