Sunderland 1-1 Everton - instant reaction from the Stadium of Light
Sunderland welcome league leaders Arsenal to the Stadium of Light on Saturday evening
It means that Arsenal could be travelling to the Stadium of Light without a recognised striker, with Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus also currently sidelines. Gyokeres was withdrawn at half time of Arsenal's win over Burnley at the weekend due to a muscle complaint, and Arteta has ruled him out of this evening's Champions League clash with Slavia Prague.
Mikel Merino and Leandro Trossard would be two contenders to fill in up front if Gyokeres is out this weekend.
"He’s definitely not available [for Tuesday night]," Arteta said.
"He hasn't trained today, and we need to do some more tests and scans in the next few days to understand the extent of the injury, but for this game he's not available. I am concerned because he hasn't had many muscular issues and he had to leave the pitch and he was feeling something and that’s obviously never a good sign. Especially for a player that is very, very explosive, so we are digging in a little bit more to understand where we are in terms of injury and we will announce it when we know more."
Gabriel Martinelli is a doubt for Saturday's game, which is expected to come too soon for Havertz, Jesus, Noni Madueke and Martin Ødegaard.
Speaking last week, Arteta said of that quartet: "I would say weeks and some of them pretty soon, hopefully, if they keep evolving the way they are doing. It’s difficult to put a game, you know that we have the international break, which is a two-week break there, and after that I think we’ll have some back. I don’t know if it’s going to be all of them, some of them, but we’ll be quite close by then."
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The Sunderland injury news ahead of Arsenal visit
Omar Alderete remains an injury doubt for Sunderland ahead of this weekend's game, Régis Le Bris has confirmed.
Alderete has missed the last two games due to a concussion and speaking after the 1-1 draw with Everton, Le Bris said the Paraguay international was still continuing to experience some symptoms.
"We don't know yet, he had a residual symptom, so we have to assess his health," Le Bris said.
Le Bris was handed a double boost on Monday night, with Simon Adingra returning to the squad following a minor hamstring injury and Dan Neil fit despite suffering a minor concussion of his own. Romaine Mundle and Dennis Cirkin are back in training for the Black Cats, though Saturday's game is expected to come too soon for both. Leo Hjelde is also closing on a return after undergoing surgery on both of his achilles in the summer, while Aji Alese is still recovering from his own injury. Habib Diarra is expected back in December after undergoing groin surgery earlier this season.
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