🔗 Share this article Arteta Warns Injury Crisis Could Hinder The Gunners' Trophy Hunt Arsenal's manager has voiced fears that his squad's pursuit for honors this campaign is being threatened by a concerning circle of fitness setbacks and a grueling fixture list. Latest Squad News Star player Declan Rice missed the midweek clash to face Club Brugge due to illness. Meanwhile, attacker Leandro Trossard and defender William Saliba remain on the sidelines. There was, however, better news regarding Gabriel Jesus, with the South American striker added to their European squad. He replaces the injured youngster Max Dowman, who picked up an foot problem. "Practice, no because we don't have time to train. But clearly the fact that you are missing players, you are loading other players more, there's a knock-on effect to that and it's a truly vicious cycle." Dowman's issue is the latest in a long series of fitness problems for the North London side. Since the start of last campaign, they have recorded 95 player absences, the second-highest total in the Premier League. Extended Absentees Defenders Cristhian Mosquera and Gabriel Magalhães are unlikely to return until the new year. Midfielder Kai Havertz still recover from surgery and "needs more time," as stated by the boss. Arteta dismissed the idea that training intensity were to culprit, pointing to a shortage of opportunity for drills. He emphasized the strain on fit players, some of whom have played over 150 games in two years. Recruitment Strategy Despite a significant off-season spend exceeding £250 million, Arteta stated the club is not looking to dip into the winter transfer market. "At the moment we're just concentrating on bringing the players back and hopefully it will be a matter of a short time," he commented. "We know how important those weeks are going to be." Looking Ahead The squad experienced their first loss in 18 games at the weekend, reducing their lead at the summit of the Premier League to two clear points. Attention now turns to the Champions League, where a sixth group-stage victory would all but guarantee a top-eight place. Winger Gabriel Martinelli could create a club record by finding the net in a fifth successive European match. "We are disappointed with the result, but we have to move forward," he stated. "It's not like all is going wrong because we lost one game. So we remain united."