Arsenal and manager Mikel Arteta have been handed a huge fitness boost ahead of Tuesday's crunch Champions League tie against Atletico Madrid at the Emirates Stadium. The Gunners play host to Diego Simeone's side and will be aiming to continue their fine start to the season by making it three wins from three in the Champions League so far in the 2025-26 campaign.
Arsenal enjoyed busy summer in transfer window
Arsenal enjoyed a busy summer in the transfer window, bringing in Viktor Gyokeres, Martin Zubimendi, Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke, Cristhian Mosquera, Christian Norgaard, Kepa Arrizabalaga and Piero Hincapie in a bid to claim silverware in the new campaign. Arteta has seen his side go on to enjoy a great start to the season, with the Gunners currently sitting top of the Premier League and having made a perfect start to their Champions League campaign. The Arsenal boss has now been boosted further by the return from injury of Hincapie, part of Ecuador's new golden generation 20 years after the last alongside Moises Caicedo and Kendry Paez, who is available for selection once again for the Gunners.
AdvertisementGetty/GOALHincapie fit to face Atletico
Hincapie signed for Arsenal from Bayer Leverkusen, where he was a Bundesliga title winner under Xabi Alonso in 2023-24. But, largely due to a early season injury, he has managed just one minute of action so far for the Gunners after appearing as a late substitute against Athletic Club in the Champions League.
The Ecuador international will now be bidding for more opportunities after Arteta confirmed the defender is fit for selection at his pre-match press conference. He told reporters: "He will be available. I think [the Fulham] game came a bit too early for him, so he had another two very good sessions and now he's ready to go."
Arsenal's defence looking rock solid
Arsenal's defence has looked rock solid so far. The Gunners have kept clean sheets in their opening two Champions League games and have only conceded once in the Premier League. The arrival of Gabriel Heinze to join Arteta's coaching staff seems to have had an impact and the Arsenal boss has been full of praise for the former Manchester United and Real Madrid man.
"I think that's something very, very collective with all the coaches, with the players, with their commitments as well and Gabriel added something different, that willingness to win. We've seen that through his career, that experience to win and to elevate somebody's level, ambition and drive to the highest limit, and he's extraordinary at that," he explained.
"My feeling is that they [the players] really love him, which is normal. But the rest of the coaches are the same. They are all very different characters, but the relationship and the bond that we have with the players, I think it's unique and I think that's something very, very powerful in the team."
Key has also been the dedication on display, with William Saliba taking the initiative and studying Atletico on the coach home from beating Fulham. Arteta didn't ask the centre-back to do that, but was delighted that he had the motivation to do it off his own back.
Arteta talks Arsenal's set-piece success
Hincapie is also known to be a threat from set-pieces, with Arsenal having been effective from dead-ball situations this season, and Arteta spoke about the team's success.
He explained: "We keep evolving and keep improving. It's a system that when you put it in place, the system has to learn every single day, every single game, to become better.
"That's in relation to the players that we have and what we learn from ourselves and as well what we learn from the opposition and try to be as consistent as possible. In order to do that, you have to give importance to certain topics, to become really important and we try to do that in the way that we share the time and the focus in game preparation, and then it's the delivery."
