Arsenal press conference LIVE: Mikel Arteta on Gabriel Jesus recall, Bellerin and Sporting CP

He’s played under me a lot. He understands the situation and he needs to challenge the situation.

For sure, that’s the first thing that we did. It’s great to have the knowledge of someone from the country.

Yeah of course everyone wants to play. When we’ve wanted to rotate players they’ve been injured. It’s been difficult. Being fair in football is very difficult. We want everybody to feel important.

For sure, that’s the first thing that we did. It’s great to have the knowledge of someone from the country.

Let’s see how they evolve. We’re trying to accommodate everybody and get them in the bst position for tomorrow.

News on the squad will be tomorrow. We have brought a few players and you will see who is available.

He’s a good friend of mine, a great player, a great individual. It will be a pleasure to meet him again on Saturday.

He will stay for sure. He loves the club.

For sure a big one. He’s a great guy and a great player. For sure he’s gonna help us a lot.

I don’t mind. If im in the team I can play as a goalkeeper.

Keeping working hard. I always try to do my best on and off the pitch.

In yet another change to the schedule, it will be Gabriel Martinelli speaking for Arsenal first.

If they play Zinchenko or Tierney these are players with different characteristics. Xhaka and White didn’t play the last match and might play. It’s a well drilled team and the way they play doesn’t change. We did our analysis and we realised they are not a weak team. All the players are in a good moment.

Above all we know very well the spirit of Arsenal. They are eager to win any match and that’s why they’ve been able to win right at the buzzer. You say how they celebrate the victories. We are ready to face the best Arsenal and we know that it will be a very difficult opponent. We’re all excited and looking forward to the match.

Now it’s Sporting manager Ruben Amorim

He’s a lot of experience. Played at Arsenal for a long time. With his coaching and dynamic football, that’s what he brings to the team.

Yeah. I think so. They have a lot of quality and they prove that weekly at the highest level so 100% it’s going to be exciting.

An Arsenal that wants to win. Fresh. Wants to press. A lot of quality on the ball. A dynamic Arsenal.

I don’t see it as a worst opponent I think that we the team and the staff think this is a great match to play. Arsenal are top of the Premier League and we want to measure ourselves with the top of Europe so this is a great game.

Sporting are up first and it’s their centre back Jeremiah St. Juste who is speaking.

It’s Arsenal vs Liverpool from the WSL this evening!

Whilst we await the arrival of Mikel Arteta, it’s worth reminding ourselves of the Europa League round of 16 draw.

Manchester United will face Spanish opposition once again after beating Barcelona 4-3 on aggregate in the last round after being drawn against Real Betis, whilst Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma face Real Sociedad.

Click here for the draw in full.

With the trip to Portugal to play Sporting Club in the Europa League, perhaps this is the best chance for Jakub Kiwior to make his debut.

However, the January transfer window signing is certainly understanding of the competition at the club of his choice.

When you look at all of Arsenal, they have a very strong squad for the Premier League. They want to play young players, they are not afraid to bet on them. I took that into account when I came here.

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The Europa League isn’t the competition Arsenal want to become regulars in, certainly in the years to come. But the second-tier European tournament does provide an attractive financial windfall that Stan Kroenke will be licking his lips at the prospect of.

Last season’s fifth-place finish in the Premier League meant the Gunners pocketed £3.3million straight off the bat – an almighty difference to the £13.4m Champions League clubs get for reaching the group stage.

Clubs earn £572k for each win and £994k for winning the group, meaning the Gunners cashed in on £4.9m from their five wins earlier in the tournament and qualification to the last-16.

Click here to find out how much Arsenal can earn by reaching the final.

Whilst we await conformation of the Arsenal players that have travelled to Lisbon, the tweet below shows Martin Odegaard, William Saliba, Jorginho, Gabriel Magalhaes, Gabriel Martinelli, Fabio Vieira and Bukayo Saka all boarded the plane this afternoon.

One player not expected to feature tomorrow evening is Kieran Tierney.

This morning, the Scotland international left the club’s London Colney training ground about 45 minutes before the session began, with some fans fearing he had suffered an injury. However, football.london understands that the left-back is merely unwell.

As a result, he will be cheering on his teammates from home.

FULL STORY.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is facing somewhat of a striker selection dilemma ahead of Thursday’s Europa League round of 16 first-leg tie against Sporting CP.

Should Eddie Nketiah, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus all not feature, the most obvious candidate to lead the line for the Gunners tomorrow is Gabriel Martinelli as he took up the role after the Belgian went off against Bournemouth and did fairly well without managing to score for a fourth successive game.

With that said, Arteta has other options at his disposal which are revealed right here.

Gabriel Jesus is back in training and the Arsenal social media team are clearly delighted to have him back. But will the Brazilian be in action tomorrow?

Ahead of tomorrow’s game against Sporting CP, how many, if any, changes should Mikel Arteta make to the side that started the 3-2 win over Bournemouth?

With the Gunners in action twice this week, there’s the possibility that the Spaniard decides to freshen things up and that could mean a return to the starting line-up for Jorginho, whilst January signing Jakub Kiwior is pushing to make his competitive debut.

Click here as football.london runs down what changes Arteta could make.

Whilst Gabriel Jesus was present in training this morning, there was no sign of Kieran Tierney, Leandro Trossard or Eddie Nketiah.

Of course, the latter pair were already doubts going into Thursday’s fixture. Trossard limped off against Bournemouth in the first-half, whilst Nketiah missed the game altogether with an ankle injury.

But for Tierney to be missing certainly raises the prospect of him not being available for selection.

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Arsenal have been handed a huge injury boost ahead of their Europa League round of 16 clash against Sporting CP as Gabriel Jesus was among those who trained at London Colney this morning.

football.london were present for the open training session and spotted Jesus walking onto the field alongside Thomas Partey. Dressed in a thick black jacket, gloves and a snood, the returning Brazilian will be a welcome sight for Arteta ahead of what is an important part of the season.

Read more about the Gabriel Jesus boost right here.

As is usually the case for an away European tie, it’s a late one today, but welcome to live coverage of Mikel Arteta’s press conference ahead of the Europa League round of 16 first-leg clash against Sporting CP.

The Arsenal manager should be in a great mood following Saturday’s dramatic comeback win over Bournemouth and he will be speaking to the media shortly as he previews tomorrow evening’s fixture.

Stay tuned for updates.