Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has confirmed that William Saliba will miss Gunners’ crunch clash with Manchester City at the Etihad.
The France international has missed the Gunners’ last five games due to a back injury suffered against Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League last month.
With Saliba out, Arsenal have won only two of their previous five Premier League games, failing to keep a clean sheet each time and conceding seven goals in their last three.
The Gunners’ plateau has allowed Man City to close the gap at the top to five points despite playing two fewer games, but the Premier League title remains in Arsenal’s hands if they win at the Etihad.
However, the league leaders will be forced to face the champions without Saliba, who Arteta claimed is yet to make significant progress in his recovery.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Arteta said as quoted by The Mirror: “There’s not been a real improvement unfortunately on him. So we are still waiting. We are still hopeful but obviously it is another week that has gone by and he hasn’t been able to train with the team.”
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When asked about reports that Saliba could be sidelined for the rest of the season due to structural damage, Arteta said with a wry smile, “I’ll leave that to the doctors to explain. At the moment we don’t have him and the next game is probably going to come too close as well. We have to go week by week with him at the moment.”
Arteta was also questioned about the condition of Granit Xhaka, who missed Arsenal’s 3-3 draw with Southampton last week due to sickness.
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