William Saliba missed out against Chelsea with an injury.placeholder image
William Saliba missed out against Chelsea with an injury. | Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Mikel Arteta is already without the services of the injured Gabriel and was dealt a further blow for the draw with Chelsea.
Arsenal defender William Saliba was excluded from the matchday squad to face Chelsea on Sunday afternoon following an injury picked up in training at the back end of last week.
The Gunners had to settle for a point against a determined Chelsea side that went down to 10 men in the first half following a red card for Moises Caicedo. The midfielder went flying into a tackle on Mikel Merino, brandishing his studs, and VAR intervened to send Anthony Taylor to the monitor with the referee having initially just shown a yellow card.
Thankfully, Merino came through that worry unscathed, but the injury worries continue to mount for Arteta ahead of a busy festive fixture schedule which sees the Gunners compete in the Premier League, Carabao Cup and Champions League.
Arsenal confirm William Saliba injury amid Chelsea absence
Saliba played 90 minutes in the 3-1 win over Bayern Munich on Wednesday night and was not an injury concern following that Champions League match. However, speaking before kick-off at Stamford Bridge, Mikel Arteta confirmed that a problem had been picked up in training ahead of facing Chelsea.
He said: “Yesterday in training he was uncomfortable, so we need to explore a little bit more what happened. I don’t think it’s something major, but enough not to be involved in the game.”
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Arteta added: “It’s been a headache because we have to have a lot of options and changes in the last few months. It was very unexpected and happened yesterday [Saliba injury]. The beauty of it is we have players willing to play and connect with each other. Whoever is there is going to perform.”
When pressed on a return date, the Gunners boss said: “I don’t know, he has another test tomorrow, we need to see the extent of that feeling that he had.”
When it comes to a return date, Arteta’s words would suggest that Saliba’s exclusion from the matchday squad is precautionary. That would put the defender in contention of a return against Brentford on Wednesday night, should those tests not find something more serious.
However, it will not have been an easy decision for Arteta to rest Saliba in a clash against title rivals Chelsea. Saliba had only missed one Premier League match this term, against Nottingham Forest, due to an ankle injury.
Mikel Arteta provides injury update
Arsenal are already without Brazil international Gabriel, who has been absent since picking up a problem on international duty. The centre-back is expected to be out for a month and earlier this week, Arteta said: "Yeah not yet, I think he's evolving really, really well.
"We have to wait for that scan a little bit longer to be more precise in terms of the timings. But I'm quite confident that, especially the way Gabi takes every injury and the way he's going to push everybody, that it's not going to be that long."
Arteta was forced to field two summer signings in Cristhian Mosquera and Piero Hincapie at centre-back against Chelsea, the duo only having a combined 21 Gunners appearances between them.
It remains to be seen whether Saliba and Gabriel return over the coming month but, with six matches still to play before Christmas, Arteta will be hoping to have his first choice defensive pairing for the crunch period.
In other news, Arsenal show transfer 'interest' in Serie A ace, agent contacted ahead of January.
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