Arteta provides injury update on Saliba and Zinchenko

Mikel Arteta has provided a worrying update on the fitness of William Saliba as the French international continues to struggle with a back injury.

Saliba has missed Arsenal’s last five games after picking up a back complaint during the Europa League last-16 clash with Sporting Lisbon last month.

The injury was initially only thought to be a minor one, but it’s turned out to be far more serious than first thought. Arsenal had hoped Saliba would be able to manage the injury to get him through the rest of the season and the player is believed to be willing to put his body on the line to play his part in the title run-in.

There were reports recently that suggested Arsenal wanted to include Saliba in the squad to face Southampton and planned to give him 30 minutes off the bench in order to get him ready to start their ‘title decider’ against Man City next week.

However, speaking at his pre-match press conference today, Arteta has confirmed the centre-back isn’t ready to return just yet. Arteta says Saliba is not progressing as well as they hoped and suggested that they’ll know next week whether he’ll be able to play again this season.

Not progressing

Arteta is quoted as saying by The Athletic:

“Regarding William, we still need to wait. He’s not progressing as quick as we hoped,”

“Probably next week we will have more certainty [if he can play again this season]. There is some evolution but he’s not there yet.”

It would be a huge blow if Saliba was ruled out of Arsenal’s top-of-the-table clash with Man City next week. Rob Holding is nowhere near his level and was given a horrid time against Erling Haaland when the two clubs met in the FA Cup earlier this season.

Arsenal will be praying that Saliba can make progress in his recovery over the coming days and get himself in contention to face City, as that match is going to be pivotal in deciding where the title ends up this season.

Elsewhere, Arteta also provided an update on Oleksandr Zinchenko. The full-back missed Arsenal’s draw with West Ham due to a groin injury but was spotted back in training on Wednesday, sparking rumours that he’ll be available to face Southampton.

However, Arteta told reporters today that it’s ‘not certain’ that Zinchenko will be fit tomorrow night as it’s a muscle injury that needs ‘time to heal’, so it looks like he’ll need to be assessed before a final decision is made. Kieran Tierney is on stand by to fill-in once again.