Arsenal duo William Saliba and Jurrien Timber have been ruled out of Wednesday’s Champions League game against Kairat.
Both players were absent from training on Tuesday following Sunday’s devastating 3-2 defeat to Manchester United.
Mikel Arteta’s side will now seek to get back to winning ways against the Kazakh champions at the Emirates on Wednesday.
Another win will see Gunners qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League as league phase winners having won all seven games ahead of tomorrow’s final round if fixtures.
Already guaranteed a top-two finish with nothing riding on the game, Arteta is likely to make changes to his side.
Arsenal have a game of far greater significance away to Leeds United on Saturday with the manager hopeful Saliba and Timber will recover in time for that trip to Elland Road.
Arteta said of the pair: ‘They’ve got slight niggles.
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‘They have some niggles and it is a good opportunity to get them in the best possible condition for the weekend.’
Declan Rice and Mikel Merino will also be unavailable with both midfielders set to serve one-match suspensions.
Kepa Arrizabalaga, Myles-Lewis Skelly, Cristhian Mosquera, Ben White, Christian Norgaard and Noni Madueke will be among those expected to come into the first-team tomorrow night when Arteta shuffles his pack.
There could also be a first start for Kai Havertz with the German available again after a knee injury that has seen him miss half the season.
Havertz has already made appearances off the bench against Portsmouth and Chelsea in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup respectively.
‘It’s been like this for the first seven months of the competition. Whether it was with this competition, domestic league and Champions League, or with international players playing for their countries as well, Arteta said.
‘There is nothing new. The good news is that we have some players back as well now that are going to be helping us.
‘We are used to it, so that’s never going to be an excuse.’
