Atletico Madrid get double Arsenal injury boost as Diego Simeone sets unwanted record

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Arsenal travel to Spain next week to take on Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final

Following Wednesday's 3-2 loss at Elche, Diego Simeone suffered his sixth defeat in eight matches for the first time in his Atletico Madrid managerial career.

The unwanted record is hardly ideal preparation for next Wednesday's Champions League semi-final first leg against Arsenal, who are looking to take a crucial step towards Budapest when they visit the Riyadh Air Metropolitano.

Theoretically, Atletico Madrid may feel like a slightly favourable draw for the Gunners when you consider that arguably the two best teams in Europe this season - PSG and Bayern Munich - also square off in the last-four.

But the truth is, both sides head into the contest in concerning form as Arsenal have won just one of their past six matches in all competitions following Sunday's 2-1 Premier League defeat at Manchester City.

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Atletico are struggling desperately and failed to issue an adequate response to last Saturday's Copa del Rey final defeat to Real Sociedad, who won on penalties following a thrilling 2-2 draw.

Since losing the second leg of their Champions League Round of 16 clash against Tottenham, Atletico have also lost to Real Madrid, Barcelona and Sevilla in La Liga, Barca in the Champions League quarter-final second-leg and now Elche.

Yet there was some positive news on the injury front as goalkeeper Jan Oblak and midfielder Pablo Barrios finally returned to action last night.

Oblak has been waiting in the wings for a start after stepping up his recovery from a muscle injury but Juan Musso kept his place for the Copa del Rey final.

Barrios has also been out for the same amount of time as the Slovenian shot-stopper and both now look primed to feature against Arsenal next week.

There is still some doubt over other key players though, not least forward duo Ademola Lookman and Alexander Sorloth.

Both are following individual training programmes and could be back in time to face Athletic Club this weekend.

Defenders Jose Maria Gimenez and David Hancko are also absent and are facing a race against the clock to prove their fitness in time for the clash with Arsenal.

Arsenal play Newcastle this weekend as they look to inject fresh life into their Premier League title bid and build some much-needed momentum ahead of their trip to Madrid.