Prior to the biggest week of the season thus far, Mikel Arteta had a lot to say about the state of his team. Arsenal are aware that, having played two more games than their closest opponents, Manchester City, by this time next week, they could be ten points clear of them.
Even if the actual difference may only be four points, for Pep Guardiola to close that deficit would be a significant challenge.
On the other side, if Arsenal loses to City away at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday and fails to defeat Southampton, the current champions will be separated with the Gunners by one point with two games in hand.
According to Football London, Arteta was unable to reassure worried fans much in advance of the game on Friday. William Saliba and Oleksandr Zinchenko, two essential defensive players, were absent for the 2-2 draw with West Ham. And the north London-based club are yet to keep a clean sheet without the former since his injury last month.
“No big news,” he said ahead of hosting Southampton on Friday. “The picture hasn’t changed from last week. Regarding William [Saliba], we still have to wait a little bit more.
“He is not progressing as quickly as we hoped. It’s a bit delicate and we want to be very certain when we push him that he is ready to absorb the load and the risk that we will take and at the moment that’s not possible to do.”
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Gabriel Jesus’ fast return to form after a protracted layoff following Qatar 2022 has raised some minor concerns, according to Arteta.
The only other long-term absentees still are Takehiro Tomiyasu and Mohamed Elneny.
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