Timber Returns for Arsenal's Champions League Final Showdown with PSG

Arsenal have received a timely boost ahead of their Champions League final against Paris St Germain on Saturday, with manager Mikel Arteta confirming that key defender Jurrien Timber is ready for action in Budapest.

The Dutch full-back has been sidelined since March, but Arteta declared him fit for the continental showpiece. "He is fit," the Arsenal boss confirmed to reporters on Friday. Madueke, too, has been given the all-clear for the clash.

The newly crowned Premier League champions arrive in Hungary off the back of their first domestic title in 22 years, but Arteta insists the job remains unfinished. "We have the opportunity tomorrow to write a new chapter in the history of the football club," he said. "We have to play tomorrow with such a clarity, a lot of courage and desire to win, but we have those three aspects."

Rather than allowing complacency to set in, the Arsenal manager believes domestic success has sharpened his squad's appetite for more silverware. "The ambition is bigger," Arteta explained. "We have won and we want the second one, that is all we have been talking about. That has to be a platform to reach bigger destinations."

Arsenal face a PSG side that eliminated them from last season's competition at the semi-final stage. The French champions will be defending their trophy, but Arteta has made clear his intentions. "They are defending the trophy, they are the champions and we are here to take it away from them," he said.

The Spaniard also offered praise for PSG manager Luis Enrique, describing him as an "inspiration" and acknowledging his role in constructing the French side's success. However, he maintained that sentiment would play no part in Saturday's encounter.

Winger Bukayo Saka has echoed his manager's focus, insisting that fatigue will not be a factor despite Arsenal's demanding Premier League campaign. "A game like this is not going to be decided on minutes, it is going to be decided by moments," Saka said. "It is a massive opportunity to do something special."

Arteta felt his side had been dealt an unlucky hand when PSG knocked them out last year, but this time Arsenal arrive as domestic champions seeking to claim the European crown for the first time in the club's history.