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Declan Rice was one of six Arsenal players who were absent from Arsenal's training session ahead of Wednesday evening's crunch clash with Sporting. The Gunners look set to be without several key personnel when they host the Portuguese outfit at the Emirates Stadium for the second leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-final.

Riccardo Calafiori, Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Jurrien Timber and Rice were all missing from the session at the Sobha Realty Training Centre on Tuesday morning. Mikel Merino, who went under the knife for a foot problem back in February, was also nowhere to be seen. Rice's absence represents a fresh worry for the Gunners, with manager Mikel Arteta declining to elaborate on his condition. He said: "I don't want to do that. We will have to wait and see in the morning."

Regarding other absentees, he added: "We have to wait till tomorrow morning to see how some of the boys are." The manager said of Rice: "Well he's played a lot of games and that is part of the issue." Before adding on Saka: "It was something he was carrying for a while. It was an Achilles issue."

On a more positive note, the likes of Viktor Gyokeres, Eberechi Eze, Leandro Trossard, William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes were all present at training. Arsenal edged a tight 1-0 victory over Sporting last week, giving them a slender advantage heading into the return fixture.

Kai Havertz, who replaced Martin Odegaard midway through the second half, proved the match-winner for the Gunners at the Jose Alvalade Stadium, slotting home past Rui Silva in stoppage time.

Speaking to reporters afterwards, Arteta was lavish in his praise for the former Chelsea striker. "He's lived it, he's been part of something and that's a really important thing to have in and around the team," the Arsenal manager said.

"And today he was ready, I could see from the disappointment the other day that he wanted to play immediately and the action of the goal, both from Gabi and him, is fabulous."

While Arsenal may fancy themselves to progress to the semi-finals, having stayed unbeaten in the Champions League this season, they've experienced defeat in three of their previous four fixtures across all competitions.

"What I'm trying to do is give our best to the club, give the best possibility to our players, and I know, if the atmosphere, the fans, the support, the energy in the stadium is the best in the world, we have a much better chance," he said following Saturday's defeat to AFC Bournemouth.

"I don't think that there's any other possibility to perform better than when you have that kind of support. "But then we have to respond, and we had moments in the first half where we did it, and there were other moments that we weren't at our level. So, then we have to apologise to them and improve, for sure."

The Gunners have gone from challenging on four fronts to just two after their defeat to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final was followed up by a surprise loss at Southampton in the FA Cup. Arsenal have also saw their advantage at the summit of the Premier League reduced to only six points ahead of Sunday's encounter with second-placed City.