Mikel Arteta says he wants \u201cno fear\u201d and \u201cpure fire\u201d from his players and supporters during a massive week for the club, as the Arsenal manager struck a bullish note in response to the 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Arsenal face Sporting in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday before travelling to Premier League title rivals Manchester City on Sunday in a game that could have huge implications on the title race.<\/p>\n
Asked what he wants to see from players and fans alike against Sporting, he said: \u201cNo fear. Pure fire. That\u2019s it. Me, the first one. Pure fire. That\u2019s what I want to see on the players, on the people, on myself. That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n
\u201cGo for it because the opportunity is unbelievable. We are in April, we have an incredible opportunity ahead of us. Let\u2019s confront it, let\u2019s go for it by really putting absolutely everything into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arsenal\u2019s chances of progressing past Sporting appear strong, as they carry a one-goal lead into the decider, but they could be without several key players in north London.<\/p>\n
Jurrien Timber, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard and Riccardo Calafiori were all absent from an open training session following the loss to Bournemouth, with Mikel Arteta saying: \u201cWe have to wait until tomorrow morning to see how a few of the boys are and make the right decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Arsenal manager said there could be a chance of one of either Saka or Timber returning for the fixture, but they have been absent since March 22 and March 14, respectively.<\/p>\n
Asked whether Saka\u2019s issue was suffered before or during the Carabao Cup final, Arteta added: \u201cIt was something he was carrying for a while.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was an Achilles issue. There is progression. Hopefully, it\u2019s going to be a matter of days and not weeks. We have to see how he responds when he is loading more.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Saka](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/04\/14095627\/GettyImages-2252892171-1-300x200.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n Saka (left) and Rice (right) are integral to Arteta\u2019s team.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Saka, 24, initially joined up with the England national team in March, but did not train before withdrawing. Rice, 27, did train before his withdrawal and has played two of Arsenal\u2019s three matches since.<\/p>\n The midfielder appeared to have an awkward landing after jumping for the ball in the 65th minute against Bournemouth, and asked whether this sparked his recent issue, Arteta said: \u201cHe\u2019s played a lot of games and that is part of the issue. But he\u2019s going to try to do everything he can to be with us tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n Odegaard, who has endured an injury-hit campaign, limped off the pitch during the first leg in Portugal last Tuesday and subsequently missed the Bournemouth game.<\/p>\n Calafiori played the entirety of the 1-0 victory over Sporting last Tuesday but then, like Odegaard, missed the Bournemouth defeat due to an unexplained issue.<\/p>\n Arsenal are also still without Mikel Merino, who has been sidelined since late January due to a foot injury that required surgery. He was spotted on the pitch at Wembley after the defeat in the Carabao Cup final with his foot in a protective boot.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mikel Arteta says he wants \u201cno fear\u201d and \u201cpure fire\u201d from his players and supporters during a massive week for the club, as the Arsenal manager struck a bullish note in response to the 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday. Arsenal face Sporting in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday before […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/updatelive.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/updatelive.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/updatelive.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/updatelive.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/updatelive.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/updatelive.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/updatelive.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/updatelive.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/updatelive.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/updatelive.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}