Riccardo Calafiori is a doubt to face Liverpool after suffering a suspected knee injury in the win over Shakhtar Donetsk [Alexander Canillas/SPP]

MIKEL Arteta insists that his Arsenal players “will be flying” on Sunday when they take on Liverpool at the Emirates.

The Gunners suffered their first defeat of the season in the Premier League last time out when they were resoundingly beaten 2-0 at Bournemouth after William Saliba was shown the first red card of his career.

Fans expecting to see a response on Tuesday night when Arsenal switched their attentions to the Champions League would have left Ashburton Grove disappointed. The Gunners looked sluggish as they laboured to a 1-0 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk, the winner coming courtesy an unfortunate own-goal by goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk.

Arteta, though, was quick to explain away his side’s latest fatigue-hit performance against Shakhtar as he seemingly promised a robust display this weekend.

“Well, we played two-and-a-half days ago, after internationals, after flying from Brazil and many countries, I was expecting that we could drop off a little bit,” said the Gunners boss.

“And the fact we put so much in in the first half and didn’t convert [our chances] and get the distance in terms of the result, and the scoreline that far, I think we paid a little bit for that.

“We made life more difficult for us because obviously we started to give the ball away and not regain the ball in the right areas, and it was more open, so that didn’t help. But we have four days [before the Liverpool game] and believe me, on Sunday we will be flying.

“We’ll review what we have to do. We have a day off and then two days to prepare for the game. Sunday is far, and we are more than comfortable that we’ll be in a great place.”

With both Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka major doubts for the top-of-the-table clash with Liverpool, the last thing Arteta needed was another injury. But there are now fears that Riccardo Calafiori could be facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines after the Italian defender was forced off against Shakhtar with a suspected knee injury.

Arteta said: “With Riccy, I don’t know the extent of that.

“He felt something and could not continue playing, so in that sense it’s not great news.”

Ben White also exited Arsenal’s European game early, but Arteta admitted that was tactical. The Spaniard explained: “Ben was my decision to take him out, he had a yellow card, we have played enough with 10 men in certain periods. They had a lot of intensity on that side and a lot of attacking players on that side – we didn’t want to take any chances.”

There is at least one attacking player fit and ready to face Liverpool. It was Gabriel Martinelli’s shot that came back off the post before hitting the keeper and going in to give Arsenal their second win in three Champions League games.

Arteta was certainly pleased with what he saw from the Brazilian winger. He said: “He looked really sharp, and he looked really fresh – fresher than anybody else on that pitch. He had another gear, he added another level of threat, he started the game really well and he had a great performance.”