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Everton without three stars for Arsenal as Mikel Arteta handed major injury boost

Arsenal have been boosted by the knowledge that Everton will be without three players for Saturday's Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium.

Mikel Arteta's team are under pressure to claim all three points after slipping to a 1-1 draw at Fulham in their last league fixture. That result in west London will have been particularly disappointing after league leaders Liverpool did not play after Storm Darragh forced the Merseyside derby's postponement.

The Gunners are six points off Arne Slot's side but have played a game more. Arsenal have also dropped down to third in the table after Chelsea's 4-3 win over Tottenham.

But Saturday's fixture, against Sean Dyche's relegation battlers, will offer an excellent opportunity to claim a vital win. Arteta's team will be further boosted by the fact that Everton will be without three players when they travel to the Emirates Stadium.

Dyche revealed during his pre-match press conference that no time-scales have been put on the returns of Tim Iroegbunam (foot) and James Garner (back). Dele Alli, meanwhile, is still out with a thigh injury.

"Tim has been working hard," said Dyche. "He's further down the road than he was, but he's still not back on the grass yet with us and that's going to be a little bit of a while yet. Jimmy the same, but they're making progress."

Arsenal, meanwhile, have injury doubts of their own with Gabriel Magalhaes, Riccardo Calafiori and Oleksandr Zinchenko all absent for Wednesday's clash with AS Monaco.

The trio are major doubts heading into Saturday's meeting with Everton, although Arteta admitted Gabriel has a chance of being available. "There is a possibility [for Gabriel] to be available," the Spaniard said. "He trained today. We will see tomorrow."

Calafiori and Zinchenko, meanwhile, have been ruled out for sure. Arteta admitted that the Italian was nearing a comeback, though.

"We're just respecting the times that the medical department have set," he said. "Then we monitor his evolution every single day. We understand he's not fully ready yet, but he's getting very close now."

Fellow defenders Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu are long-term absentees with knee problems. That has only served to exacerbate the defensive injury crisis that Arsenal have been forced to deal with.

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