Mikel Arteta says Kieran Tierney is “ready” to return with Arsenal if necessary as up to seven full-backs are unable to train ahead of their Champions League game against Monaco.

Tierney has been on the bench four times this season after returning from a hamstring injury, but has not played for Arsenal since the 2023 Community Shield win over Manchester City.

Gabriel, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Riccardo Calafiori were already at risk of injury at Monaco, but with Jurrien Timber and Thomas Partey also out of training, Arteta said: “He (Tierney) is ready, he is training really well and he will definitely get a chance .” .

“The way the team looks right now, he’s going to do it for that reason and because he deserves it. The way he behaved, the way he was with us, because he is ready to do it and when that happens you have to give the players those opportunities.”

Gabriel and Calafiori have missed Arsenal’s last two games against Manchester United and Fulham. Zinchenko started in the 2-0 win over Manchester United and missed the 1-1 draw at Fulham, while Partey and Timber played 90 minutes in both games.

Four of the five full-back losses add to an existing injury problem for Arsenal, with Ben White (knee) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) already out injured.

“We have a lot of players to manage,” Arteta added. “Some of them probably won’t be fit tomorrow, others are still doubtful. We still have 24 hours to make these decisions and hopefully they are the right ones.”

Myles Lewis-Skelly and Jakub Kiwior could also step in at left-back, but right-back will be the bigger problem for Arteta to solve, with Timber, White, Tomiyasu and Partey all potentially unavailable.

William Saliba and Tierney already have experience on that side of the defense. Josh Nichols, who made his first-team debut against Bolton in September, could play there but Arteta added: “He’s had some problems. We still don’t know if he’s available or not.”

Further down the academy, Josh Robinson has made 12 appearances for Mehmet Ali’s U21 side this season.

Asked if he understood why these injuries crop up, Arteta said: “It’s a domino effect. We have many joint injuries (e.g. knee injuries) that are very difficult to predict or assess. We have some diving attacks that are difficult to dodge.

“The other reason is probably the congestion, the number of minutes they have to play. Having one or two players unavailable means putting more stress and minutes into someone else. This is not a good change because the consequences and burdens for other players end up being much higher than desired. But here we are.”

Arsenal and Monaco go into matchday six in the new Champions League league format in seventh and eighth place respectively. Both teams have 10 points each, making the encounter crucial for both sides for a possible top eight place.

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