Mikel Arteta praised his Arsenal team for how they have coped with a punishing defensive injury crisis as he prepares his men to face Monaco in the Champions League on Wednesday. The Gunners are seventh in the new-look Champions League format after three wins in five matches — one place above the Ligue 1 team. But Arteta, whose men are also third in the Premier League, is juggling a lengthy injury list. Gabriel Magalhaes and Riccardo Calafiori, who both missed Sunday’s draw at Fulham, were absent from Tuesday’s training session, along with Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jurrien Timber and Thomas Partey. Right-backs Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu are still absent with knee injuries.

“We have to manage a lot of the players, so they’re probably not going to be fit for tomorrow and are a doubt,” Arteta said at his pre-match press conference on Tuesday.

“I still have 24 hours to make those decisions and hopefully the right ones…. In the ideal scenario, we have to be in charge to make those decisions because it’s forcing us to make it for the wrong reasons, but as well, we need to accept the reality and move forwards.”

Arsenal stumbled at the start of last month but won four straight games in all competitions before Sunday’s 1-1 draw.

But the Spaniard said he was happy with how his men were coping in the absence of a settled back line.

“The good news is that the team still reacts and plays in the way that we want and becomes so dominant, and we want to do that regardless of who plays and I think that belief is within the team and it’s really positive,” he said.

Arteta said there was an opportunity for defender Kieran Tierney to return — the 27-year-old Scotland international has yet to feature this season.

“He is ready and he’s training really well and he’s going to have an opportunity for sure with the way the team is looking at the moment,” he said.

“It’s for that reason and because he’s earned it as well with the way he’s behaved and the way he’s been with us.”

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

A father and son pleaded guilty in a German court Tuesday over a plot to blackmail the family of Michael Schumacher by threatening to release images of the Formula One legend. The men from Wuppertal in western Germany made the admission at the opening of their trial in the city, a court spokeswoman said.  The men, identified only as Yilmaz T. and Daniel L., allegedly threatened to release private photos and videos of Schumacher and demanded 15 million euros ($15.7 million) from his family. These purportedly included images of the seven-time Formula One champion before and after a 2013 skiing accident, which left him with a serious brain injury.

Schumacher, 55, has not been seen in public since.

A third man, who is accused of supplying the photos to the other two defendants, also went on trial for his alleged part in the plot but made no admission of guilt.

The man, identified as Markus F. from the western German town of Wuelfrath, worked as a security guard at the Schumacher family residence in Switzerland until 2021.

Prosecutors accuse the suspect of selling images of Schumacher, acquired during his work, to the father and son for a “five-figure” sum.

According to prosecutors, Yilmaz T. rang an employee of the Schumacher family several times in June this year to demand money.

The employee demanded proof of the images, which was delivered from a new email address, said to have been set up by the suspected blackmailer’s son.

The court has scheduled a total of five hearings until mid-February.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)