With William Saliba suspended and Martin Odegaard ruled out, Riccardo Calafiori and Bukayo Saka could join them on the sidelines for Arsenal‘s match against Liverpool.
Liverpool are currently four points above Arsenal in the Premier League table and visit the Emirates on Sunday for a game that will reveal much about the side’s forthcoming campaigns.
For the first time in a couple of years, the Gunners are currently experiencing multiple injury problems, which have been compounded by picking up three red cards already this season.
Their summer defensive signing, Calafiori, is the latest to have picked up an issue.
The Italian limped off in the second half of their 1-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk after appearing to twist his right knee when slipping on the turf.
Arteta said: “He had to come off because he felt something. I don’t know the extent of it, so in that sense not great news.”
Bukayo Saka injury update
Along with Calafiori, Saka is also a doubt for Sunday’s Premier League match after suffering a hamstring injury on international duty.
The winger was forced to miss Arsenal‘s defeat to Bournemouth at the weekend, as well as their Champions League win, and is “unlikely” to play Liverpool.
His manager explained to Prime Video: “He wasn’t able to do the session in the way that we wanted. He wasn’t still feeling good so it wasn’t good news.”
After the match, Arteta was asked again about Saka, to which he responded: “He wasn’t able to train yet so [playing against Liverpool] is unlikely.”
Who else is out?
We know for certain that Saliba will miss the match due to the one-match suspension he received after being sent off, for pulling down Bournemouth‘s Evanilson as he ran through on goal.
Odegaard also remains sidelined as a result of his ankle injury sustained in early September.
Defender Jurrien Timber is another player who could miss out this weekend. However, the Dutchman is in contention to return, with Arteta saying on Monday: “It is going to be close. We have to see how he deals with training with the whole group but he is pretty close.”
Meanwhile, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney also remain out with a knee and serious hamstring issue respectively.
This all means that Arsenal could now start with a back four of Ben White, Gabriel, Jakub Kiwior and Oleksandr Zinchenko.
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