Having spent much of the season without four key attackers, Mikel Arteta now has to contend with four new injuries in defence. Hardly ideal with a Champions League quarter-final double-header against Real Madrid on the horizon.
Riccardo Calafiori has been ruled out for “a few weeks” after picking up a knee injury during the Interlull, while Ben White, worryingly, is struggling with a niggle in his knee, having only just returned from surgery. The right-back was absent from the squad last night as Arsenal beat Fulham 2-1 at the Emirates.
It was a win that came at a cost. Gabriel Magalhaes limped off after 16 minutes with a hamstring problem, and Jurrien Timber, who had been ill in recent weeks, took a knock to his knee that forced another change.
Goals from Mikel Merino and the returning Bukayo Saka secured the points, but a makeshift backline – Thomas Partey at right-back and Jakub Kiwior partnering William Saliba – conceded a sloppy goal at the death to Rodrigo Muniz.
After the game, Arteta [provided an update](https://www.arsenal.com/news/every-mikel-artetas-post-fulham-presser) on the latest issues: “They \[Gabriel and Timber\] are two players in this team that never want to come off. Gabi felt something in his hamstring, we don’t know how big that is.
“And with Jurrien as well, he was already struggling very early in the game. He managed to continue and at some point he couldn’t, so, that’s the downside to it.”
As he’s done all season, the manager put a brave face on, although you suspect he’s cursing behind closed doors.
“You can imagine, we’ve lost four players in the defensive line in one week – Calafiori, Ben White, Jurrien, and Gabi Magalhaes. We still have another four who are so willing that they will do their job.
“You’re scratching your head. I’m having the next few games the same,” he added.
“At the same time, it’s been a great learning experience for us and all the coaches and staff to manage that situation.
“At the end, the players are going to react to how we react to it. You start to feel sorry for yourself and say it’s impossible, how we’re going to do this, it will be impossible. But these boys don’t give you the reason to act like that and look where we are in April.”
Given Gabriel’s reaction to his injury, it’s hard to believe he’ll recover in time for Real Madrid’s visit to the Emirates on Tuesday, opening the door for Kiwior to start the biggest game of his career.
The Poland international may have fallen down the pecking order this season, but at least he’s had decent game time in the Champions League, starting four of Arsenal’s ten matches so far.
“The good thing with Jakub is that he’s been very reliable,” said Arteta.
“Every time we need him he’s always there, he’s available and he does his job. We ask him to play as a left centre-back, as a right centre-back, as a left full-back.
“He’s ready, he’s got a smile on his face. It’s sad for Gabi but he really wanted to play as well and he will be fine.
“If you ask the dressing room how much they want to play the next two games and the Real Madrid game, believe me, everybody wants to be on that pitch.”