🔗 Share this article Arteta Fears Injury Crisis Could Undermine The Gunners' Trophy Quest Mikel Arteta has voiced fears that his team's chase for titles this season is being jeopardized by a worrying cycle of fitness setbacks and a grueling fixture list. Latest Team News Star player Declan Rice missed the Champions League clash to Belgium due to sickness. Meanwhile, forward Leandro Trossard and center-back William Saliba are still unavailable. There was, however, positive news regarding Gabriel Jesus, with the South American striker registered to their Champions League squad. He comes in for the hurt youngster Max Dowman, who suffered an ankle problem. "Practice, no because we lack time to train. But obviously the fact that you are without players, you are placing demands on other players more, there's a knock-on effect to that and it's a really dangerous cycle." Dowman's setback is the most recent in a long series of fitness problems for the North London side. Since the beginning of last campaign, they have suffered 95 player absences, the second-highest total in the Premier League. Long-Term Absentees Defenders Cristhian Mosquera and Gabriel Magalhães are not expected to be back until 2025. Midfielder Kai Havertz still rehabilitate from surgery and "needs more time," as stated by the boss. Arteta rejected the idea that training intensity were to blame, pointing to a shortage of opportunity for sessions. He emphasized the strain on available players, some of whom have played over 150 matches in two years. Transfer Plans Despite a significant off-season spend exceeding £250 million, Arteta stated the club is unlikely planning to dip into the January transfer market. "Right now we're just focusing on getting the players back and with luck it will be a matter of weeks," he said. "It's clear how important those weeks are going to be." Next Challenge The squad suffered their first defeat in 18 matches at the hands of Aston Villa, cutting their advantage at the top of the Premier League to two points. Focus now turns to the European stage, where a sixth group victory would all but secure a knockout phase place. Winger Gabriel Martinelli could make history by scoring in a fifth successive European fixture. "The team is disappointed with the outcome, but we have to keep going," he stated. "It's not like everything is going wrong because we lost one game. So we stick together."