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Bukayo Saka stands defiant amid Arsenal’s challenging week, believing silverware is still within reach this season despite recent setbacks. In a critical stretch for the Gunners with a midweek clash against Inter Milan at San Siro and a weekend matchup at Chelsea following suit, they find themselves trailing in the title race and adjusting to the departure of sporting director Edu.

Despite these trials and three games without a Premier League victory, England winger Saka maintains that the team’s confidence.

Wearing the captain’s armband in Martin Odegaard’s injury absence, Saka expressed his unwavering confidence.

Despite acknowledging the ‘noise’ surrounding Arsenal after a string of unfavourable results, Saka emphasised the importance of calmness and focus within the squad: “If you look at our squad, the quality we have, the players we have and at the same time we’re only in November so I don’t think I’ve lost any belief, I don’t think anyone will change it if I have to. “Obviously there’s a lot of noise around the club and we lost two games and drew another one.”

Arsenal have enjoyed life in the Champions League so far this season. The Gunners have kickstarted their Euro run with a promising two victories and a tie, and now they are set for the glamorous face-off with Inter Milan.

Arsenal have the perfect chance to bounce back from Premier League defeat as they travel to Serie A champions Inter on Wednesday. Without a win in three Premier League matches, and with a trip to Chelsea coming up on Sunday, it is a crucial game.

Although the extended group phase format allows for more slip-ups, a win here for Arsenal would put them in a strong position to automatically progress to the last-16 in the new year. With two wins and a draw already, things have gone well so far.

Inter promise to be the biggest challenge yet, though, and they sit second in Italy so far, just a point behind Antonio Conte’s impressive Napoli. For Arteta, it will be a test of how he balances his creaking squad yet again.

Declan Rice, a mainstay for the Gunners, is ruled out after picking up an injury, whilst Riccardo Calafiori remains out. Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney are also sidelined, but have been for much of the campaign to date.

Fortunately for Arsenal, club captain Martin Odegaard is back. For the first time in two months, he is likely to be in the matchday squad at least after travelling with his teammates to San Siro.

Arsenal will be welcomed to the San Siro to take on Serie A champions Inter Milan in the fourth Champions League game of the season on Wednesday night, with the Gunners looking to get back to winning ways.

Mikel Arteta’s side suffered defeat in the Premier League at the weekend as Newcastle claimed a 1-0 win at St James’ Park, while Simone Inzaghi led his side to a 1-0 win over Venezia to close the gap at the top of the table to just one point after Napoli lost.

Both sides have huge games this weekend in their domestic leagues too so the managers will have some big decisions to make on their starting lineups.

Arsenal Predicted XI: Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber; Partey, Merino; Saka, Trossard, Sterling; Havertz.

With Declan Rice not travelling with the Gunners squad for the game, it should allow Ben White to come back into the team at right-back and for Thomas Partey to move back into his more natural midfield role. Gabriel Martinelli’s form hasn’t been great either, so it could be a good opportunity for the £180,000-per-week winger to drop out of the team and Raheem Sterling to get a rare start on the left-wing too, while Odegaard is unlikely to come straight back into the team after so long out.

It’s yet another big week for Arsenal as they take on Inter and Chelsea before the November international break.

The Gunners flew to Italy on Tuesday ahead of their Champions League league phase clash with Inter at the San Siro on Wednesday evening. So far winning two and drawing one of their three Champions League matches, Mikel Arteta knows a win against the Serie A side will go a long way in helping the north Londoners finish in the top eight.

Martin Odegaard was spotted training with his teammates at Sobha Realty Training Centre on Tuesday morning and looks close to making a return from injury. The Gunners captain last played at the end of August but could feature against Inter.

Riccardo Calafiori, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney missed training, however, and will not be part of the squad which travels to Italy. Declan Rice was also absent and will miss the clash against Inter.

Arteta has some tough decisions to make in regards to his starting line-up against Inter.

Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice has been ruled out of the club’s Champions League clash against Inter Milan on Wednesday after missing training on Tuesday due to an undisclosed issue. The 25-year-old played the full match during Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat to Newcastle United on Saturday, but his absence means he will not join the 23-man squad travelling to Italy.

Rice has been a key player for Arsenal this season, featuring in 12 of the club’s 13 Premier League and Champions League matches, with only two absences—one due to suspension and the other for precautionary rest. His absence is expected to be a significant loss as the Gunners prepare for their crucial group-stage matchup.

Meanwhile, club captain Martin Ødegaard could make his long-awaited return after over two months on the sidelines. The Norwegian midfielder, who sustained ankle ligament damage while on international duty in September, has resumed full training and has been named in the squad for Wednesday’s game. Ødegaard’s return would bring a welcome boost to Arsenal’s lineup as they look to extend their unbeaten Champions League run.

Arsenal have enjoyed a solid Champions League campaign so far, remaining unbeaten and yet to concede a goal, with victories over Paris Saint-Germain and Shakhtar Donetsk and a goalless draw against Atalanta. They currently sit level on seven points with Inter, who have also had a strong start in the group.

Arsenal have completed their final team training session before their Champions League clash in Italy against Inter. The Gunners will be looking to continue their impressive performances in Europe despite having not won any of their last three Premier League games.

Injuries have played a big role in their mixed form with Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber missing action, while Martin Odegaard has missed the last six weeks. However, Arsenal look set to welcome back their captain very soon after he was spotted in training at London Colney.

Riccardo Calafiori, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney were absent however, with another key Arsenal star not captured out on the grass.

What Odegaard did

It was a welcome sight to see Odegaard back out on the training pitch with his teammates and it was certainly clear they were happy to see him. From the images uploaded, Odegaard was in most of them which included him smiling with Kai Havertz as they headed out to start open training.

Later in the session, he was also all smiles as he hopped onto the back of Mikel Merino with it the first time the duo have been in Arsenal training with each other as the latter was injured for the opening few weeks of the season, though of course they were both at Real Sociedad a few years ago.

The Premier League have confirmed the officials for matchweek 11 with Arsenal and Chelsea learning who will take charge of their Premier League clash. Both London clubs have been at the centre of controversial decisions in recent weeks with the Blues angered by a major call against Manchester United this past weekend.

In the late stages of their encounter at Old Trafford, which ended level, Lisandro Martinez was booked for a high challenge on Cole Palmer though many believed he should have been sent off. As for the Gunners, a controversial disallowed goal against Liverpool followed a red card for William Saliba with inconsistencies the main issue.

Before that, a Champions League tie away at Inter takes place on Wednesday while Chelsea are on home soil for their Conference League clash against Noah on Thursday. Despite that being the immediate focus, the Premier League have already confirmed the officials in charge of this weekend’s games.

As the big clash of the weekend, Michael Oliver has been confirmed as the referee for Chelsea vs Arsenal and he will be assisted by linesman Stuart Burt and James Mainwaring and fourth official Andy Madley, while Paul Tierney is at Stockley Park on VAR.

It is certainly interesting that Oliver has been handed a clash of such magnitude just over one week on from controversially recommending a review for a potential penalty, that Jarrod Bowen scored, in West Ham’s 2-1 win over Manchester United which ultimately led to the departure of Erik ten Hag.

Mikel Arteta has been handed some more positive injury news after Ben White and Gabriel Magalhaes overcame minor issues to feature against Newcastle this past weekend. Though the defensive duo were back in the matchday squad, neither were able to prevent the Magpies from winning that Premier League clash.

The Gunners have been plagued by key absences this season with William Saliba, Jurrien Timber, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice among those to have missed action. As a result of those players missing out recently, Arsenal are on a three-game winless streak in the league and the tasks do not get any smaller.

Though the Gunners are not clear favourites for either clash given their recent form, Arteta looks to have been handed a major Martin Odegaard injury boost. The Arsenal captain has missed the last six weeks with an ankle injury but he has finally been spotted back in team training ahead of Wednesday’s European fixture.

Just moments after being captured in open training before the Gunners head to Italy later today, Norway’s squad for their upcoming Nations League fixtures was confirmed. Despite comments from head coach Stale Solbakken, the 25-year-old has not been named.

Mikel Arteta has already received a parting gift from Edu Gaspar with a statement on Monday confirming the Arsenal chief will depart the club. It is expected the Brazilian will become CEO of Evangelos Marinakis’ multi-club system which includes Nottingham Forest, Olympiacos and Rio Ave.

This huge news comes following a tough few weeks for the Gunners with their latest setback coming in defeat to Newcastle United at St James’ Park, a game Edu was in attendance for. That may not be his final game however, as the 46-year-old still needs to serve a notice period despite confirmation of his exit.

During his five years at the club, Edu has helped with a major overhaul and helped Arteta build an excellent squad. The former Arsenal star has completed a number of superb transfers with Martin Odegaard and Gabriel, now both established senior stars, signed for mere pennies in the grand scheme of things.

Perhaps his best decision though involved William Saliba, with the France international managed extremely carefully following his £27million move from Saint-Etienne in 2019. Given he was only 18 at the time, it looked as though Arsenal significantly overpaid with his breakthrough season only arriving just a few years ago.

Edu Gaspar is set to leave Arsenal after resigning from his post as sporting director on Monday.

The Brazilian has been at the Emirates Stadium since 2019, but is now set to depart in order to join Evangelos Marinakis’ multi-club system. The Greek billionaire is the owner of Nottingham Forest as well as Olympiacos and Rio Ave in Portugal.

Since 2019, Edu has done a huge job in overhauling the Arsenal squad, getting rid of huge players like Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The Brazilian has also been associated with the incomings of a number of high profile players, such as Kai Havertz and Declan Rice.

Gabriel Martinelli: Edu had not technically joined Arsenal when Gabriel Martinelli arrived in north London. The former Invincible had his finger prints over the deal though, and for just £7million it has turned out be an absolute steal.

Martin Odegaard: Initially brought in on loan, Martin Odegaard didn’t quite set the world alight in his first half season at Arsenal. The signs were there though, and the Norwegian was brought in on a permanent for just £30million. He has gone on to be one of the greatest signings in Arsenal’s history and is a world class talent. Arguably the best deal of Edu’s tenure.