🔗 Share this article Arteta Warns Fitness Woes Could Undermine The Gunners' Silverware Hunt Arsenal's manager has voiced fears that his squad's chase for honors this season is being jeopardized by a worrying cycle of injuries and a relentless fixture list. Latest Team News Key midfielder Declan Rice missed the midweek clash to Belgium due to sickness. Meanwhile, forward Leandro Trossard and defender William Saliba are still on the sidelines. There was, on a brighter note, better news regarding Gabriel Jesus, with the Brazilian forward registered to their Champions League squad. He replaces the hurt youngster Max Dowman, who suffered an ankle problem. "Practice, no because we lack time to train. But clearly the fact that you are without players, you are loading other players more, there's a consequence to that and it's a really vicious circle." Dowman's issue is the most recent in a long list of fitness problems for the North London side. Since the beginning of last campaign, they have suffered 95 injuries, the second-most total in the Premier League. Extended Absentees Defenders Cristhian Mosquera and Gabriel Magalhães are not expected to return until the new year. Midfielder Kai Havertz continues to rehabilitate from knee and "needs more time," according to the boss. Arteta rejected the suggestion that training intensity were to blame, pointing to a shortage of opportunity for drills. He highlighted the strain on fit players, some of whom have featured over 150 matches in two years. Transfer Strategy Despite a major summer investment exceeding £250 million, Arteta insisted the team is not looking to enter the winter transfer market. "Right now we're just concentrating on bringing the players back and with luck it will be a question of weeks," he commented. "We know how important those coming weeks are going to be." Next Challenge The team experienced their first loss in 18 games at the weekend, cutting their lead at the summit of the Premier League to two points. Attention now shifts to the European stage, where a sixth group win would virtually secure a top-eight finish. Winger Gabriel Martinelli could create a club record by scoring in a fifth consecutive European fixture. "The team is disappointed with the result, but we have to keep going," he said. "It's not like everything is going badly because we lost one game. So we remain united."