Ødegaard, Timber & Calafiori: Latest Arsenal injury news and return dates ahead of crucial PSG match

The biggest game of Arsenal’s season so far takes place on Wednesday evening at the Parc des Princes, at Mikel Arteta’s men head to the French capital to take on Paris Saint-Germain, needing to overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit to make the Champions League final in Munich. Unfortunately, some fresh injuries could make an uphill battle even harder.

Captain and key playmaker Martin Ødegaard was seen limping after the 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth at the weekend, while defender Jurriën Timber was a surprise omission from the squad following a fresh fitness scare.

We’ve got the latest updates on them and the condition of the rest of Arsenal’s numerous injured players ahead of the second leg against the French champions below, along with the stricken stars’ expected return dates when available.

Martin Ødegaard and Jurriën Timber among fresh doubts for Arsenal

Arsenal already had six players either out or doubts for the crunch Champions League match this week before the weekend – and now both Timber and Ødegaard have been added to the list.

The news concerning Ødegaard, who appeared to be limping immediately after the final whistle on Saturday, seems to be positive. While Arteta only told the press that he hadn’t had a chance to speak to the club doctor about the Norwegian’s condition, the player himself told reporters after the game that he believed that he was “OK”, and that it was “just a hit… a bit sore, but it’s fine.”

Unless the player’s self-diagnosis was wide of the mark, he seems likely to feature against PSG, but there is every chance that Dutch defender Timber is less fortunate. Arsenal haven’t made the nature of his injury public as yet and his condition is shrouded in mystery, but when Arteta was asked if he was confident that Timber would play on Wednesday, he simply said “no” while refusing to clarify what the problem was. As such, there is no prognosis and no timeline for his return.

Riccardo Calafiori and Jorginho doubts but four more expected to miss out

Of the players known to be carrying injury issues prior to the defeat to Bournemouth over the weekend, two are believed to have a realistic chance of playing against PSG – Italian duo Riccardo Calafiori and Jorginho.

Neither are necessarily likely to be fit, however. Calafiori is recovering from a knee injury sustained during the last international break and is expected to be close to a return, but Arteta has only explained that he will “see in the next few days” how he handles training before making a decision on his availability.

Jorginho, meanwhile, suffered a “scary” abdominal injury against Brentford in April but is “feeling good”, according to his manager, and ready to “gradually integrate into the team”. Like Calafiori, he has not been ruled out of the Champions League tie in Paris, but it seems probable that he will miss out.

Among those not expected to have a chance of making the squad are German forward Kai Havertz. Despite being ahead of schedule in his recovery from hamstring surgery, Arteta has admitted that the games against PSG would be “too close” for Havertz to feature, while confirming that he believes that he will play some part before the end of the season. The 18 May match against Newcastle seems to be a plausible return date.

Others with long term injury issues are Gabriel Magalhães (hamstring), Gabriel Jesus and Takehiro Tomiyasu (both knee), none of whom will play again this season. Defender Gabriel should be back for summer training camps, but Jesus and Tomiyasu may be missing through the autumn as well, depending on how their recovery goes.