Jurrien Timber and William Saliba will miss our final game of the 2024/25 season at Southampton due to injury.
The Dutch full-back wasn’t included in the matchday squad for our 1-0 win against Newcastle United on Sunday, and Mikel Arteta has confirmed that he has undergone ankle surgery.
Meanwhile, William Saliba’s 100th Premier League appearance in that same game ended prematurely as he was forced off at half-time with a hamstring issue, which will see him miss out on the trip to St Mary’s Stadium.
Speaking to Premier League World TV on Wednesday, the boss confirmed: “William is going to be out for a few weeks, unfortunately. He pulled his hamstring against Newcastle, so he's going to be out for a few weeks.
“Jurrien had surgery yesterday on his ankle, so he'll be out for a few weeks as well.”
While the pair’s seasons have ended slightly earlier than hoped, the boss was keen to praise the duo for their displays in our backline.
No player in our history has won more matches in their first 100 league matches for the club than William, with the victory against Newcastle taking him up to 68. He has played in 51 of our 57 matches in all competitions this term and has been nominated for the Premier League Young Player of the Season award.
[Read more
Saliba makes history on 100th PL appearance](https://www.arsenal.com/news/saliba-makes-history-100th-pl-appearance?utm_source=arsenaldotcom&utm_medium=embedded-article&utm_campaign=news)
“We've seen his progression, his development, and the standard that he's hitting at the moment,” Mikel added. “When you talk about those numbers, it's incredible. He's so much to learn and improve, so we have a player there for many, many years.”
Jurrien meanwhile has played 48 times for us across the campaign, bouncing back from a frustrating first season in our colours when he sat out nine months with a knee injury.
That recovery has only made his displays and leadership qualities all the more impressive for Mikel, who feels the Dutchman has been a huge part of our exploits this season.
“With Jurrien, you understand that he was coming back from an ACL one year out, and to have this season after an ACL, it's incredible,” he continued. “We didn't sign a player, we signed a leader, a very, very special character.”
[Read more
Jurrien Timber stars in the PL's Big Interview](https://www.arsenal.com/news/jurrien-timber-stars-pls-big-interview?utm_source=arsenaldotcom&utm_medium=embedded-article&utm_campaign=news)
Copyright 2025 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.