Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has provided an injury update on William Saliba and he has confirmed that the Frenchman will remain absent for Tuesday’s Premier League clash with Chelsea.
The Gunners’ dip in form has coincided with Saliba’s unexpected absence since the centre-back suffered an injury against Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League last month.
Arsenal have failed to win any of their last four Premier League games without the 2021-22 Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year marshalling the defense, conceding 11 goals.
In his pre-game press conference, Arteta admitted that the 22-year-old had shown no signs of improvement, raising fears that he would miss the rest of the season.
Arteta has refused to comment on the length of Saliba’s absence, but he provided another gloomy update to media on Monday morning as Rob Holding prepares for his seventh consecutive start in the backline.
“Pretty similar, he’s not going to be involved tomorrow. We’ll have to wait until the next game to see where we are, but he hasn’t improved this week at all,” Arteta said when asked about Saliba’s condition.
While admitting that Pep Guardiola’s side were superior last week, Arteta can still see “fire” in his players’ bellies, who must hope for the champions to slip up in order to reignite their title hopes.
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“I have not had to pick up the mood of the players, they keep the fire in the belly for tomorrow. It is very difficult to predict what they [Chelsea] are going to do but we have to prepare to win the game,” Arteta added.
“It took a while to get over what happened at the Etihad. We don’t want to accept that, but we have to recognise the fact that they took the game to a different level.
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