Arteta confirms Arsenal star ‘fit and ready’ to play against PSG | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta says Riccardo Calafiori is ready to be involved against PSG following his spell out with injury, but Jurrien Timber is being assessed.

Calafiori has not played for Arsenal since March after suffering a knee injury while playing for Italy.

But he trained ahead of his side’s Champions League semi-final second leg and asked about his availability, Arteta said:  “He’s travelled, he’s fit and he’s ready to play when we need him so that’s great news.”

Timber, meanwhile, missed Arsenal’s defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday and Arteta says he will need to be assessed as to whether he can start the game against PSG.

“We will assess him today, whether he can start the game or not,” Arteta said.

Arsenal will have to overturn a 1-0 deficit from their first-leg defeat at the Emirates if they are to reach the Champions League final.

But Arteta believes his side showed enough in the first leg to prove they can progress past the French champions.

“There is huge enthusiasm and huge energy,” Arteta said.

“We are a win away from being in the Champions League semi-final. We’re in one of the most beautiful cities in the world against a great opponent and it doesn’t get much better than that.

“We are here to make history. We have a big opportunity to do that.

“We bring a result that gives us so much clarity about what we have to do, a lot of learnings from the first leg as well and how small the margins are between the two teams.

“The result, in my opinion, should have been very different to that one so it’s another opportunity to prove that and earn the right to be in the final.

“(We need to) do a lot of things we did in the first leg but better and more consistently.

“We are more than capable. We’ve done it in Europe against a lot of odds. Probably nobody would say we would be in this position, so let’s make our own history.”