Why Jurrien Timber is not in Arsenal squad for Champions League clash against Club Brugge

Jurrien Timber's absence in Arsenal's squad in Wednesday night's Champions League in Belgium adds to Mikel Arteta's defensive injury woes

Jurrien Timber has been left out of the Arsenal squad altogether for Wednesday evening's Champions League trip to Club Brugge.

The defender had played all five of the Gunners' games in the competition so far this season, scoring in the 3-1 win over Bayern Munich last month. Timber has also started 13 of the 15 Premier League games so far.

In the win over Brentford and loss at Aston Villa, the 24-year-old partnered Piero Hincapie at centre-back due to the injuries in Mikel Arteta's team. Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba are both nursing injuries, with the latter close to a return, while Cristhian Mosquera is facing a period out.

On Wednesday, Arteta made five changes to the side that lost at Villa Park, and the most surprising one came at central defence. Timber's absence meant Arsenal were forced to play with another new partnership, with Christian Norgaard joining Hincapie in the backline.

The summer signing has made just seven appearances for the club since he arrived from Brentford. He started the 3-0 win at Slavia Prague in November, but has been an unused substitute in the last five league games.

Norgaard has experience at centre-back, starting in the position eight times during his time at Brentford. During which he kept four clean sheets and conceded just five goals.

Despite being left out of the squad, Timber did travel to Belgium with his teammates. Riccardo Calafiori also dropped out of the starting XI, though the Italian did make the bench.

Academy players Josh Nichols, Marli Salmon and Louie Copley were among the substitutes on the bench alongside the likes of Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze and Ethan Nwaneri.

"They both had issues from the weekend, both really bad kicks," Arteta confirmed pre-match in Belgium. "For Jurrien it was too early and for Ricci [Calafiori] we have to manage to see if he can do some minutes. [tonight]"

Arteta's men are currently top of the Champions League with five wins from five and can all but guarantee a top-eight finish and automatic qualification with victory tonight.

The Gunners boss will be looking for a response from his side after they suffered their first defeat since August at Villa last weekend.