William Saliba's Arsenal actions on eve of Champions League clash speak volumes

William Saliba may be about to hand Arsenala major boost ahead of their first Champions League clash of the season.

The Gunners will travel to Spain to take on Athletic Club on Tuesday night in the first match of the league phase of the competition.

Arsenal go into the game on the back of a 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest in the Premier League, as they bounced back from the defeat to Liverpool before the international break.

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Mikel Arteta led Arsenal's training session on Tuesday, which saw Saliba take part ahead of the clash against Athletic Club.

Saliba missed the win over Forest after suffering an ankle injury before the international break. The defender returned to training last week but was rested for the weekend ahead of the clash in the Champions League.

Tuesday's session saw Saliba take part in training, with the France international all smiles as he prepared for the trip to Spain.

It remains to be seen if Arteta will include Saliba in the Arsenal starting line-up to face Athletic Club on Tuesday night, with the Gunners boss having more injury concerns to manage.

"He trained (on Friday) and he did the whole session and he was OK,” Arteta said after the Forest game. “I spoke to him afterwards and he said, ‘I think I need a few more days’.

"The turnaround has been too quick for the extent of the injury so when a player says that, don’t push it. I think (Cristhian) Mosquera was very, very good."

Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaardwere both absent from training on Tuesday, with the duo seemingly unlikely to feature in the Champions League opener. Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus and Ben White were also not involved in the session.

Saka has been sidelined with a muscle injury that has seen him miss the last two matches, while Odegaard picked up a shoulder injury in the first half of the win over Forest on Saturday afternoon.

With Saka unavailable, Noni Madueke is likely to continue in the England international's place on the right wing, while Declan Rice could return to the midfield and replace Odegaard for the clash against Bilbao.