Arteta 'very worried' as Saliba out until February

Willian Saliba was ruled out with a muscular problem from Arsenal's 2-2 draw against Aston Villa on Saturday in the Premier League. Mikel Arteta confirmed the defender "felt something before the match, something muscular" as he added: "I don’t think it’s too much, but he could not train yesterday. He wasn’t feeling good enough to play so we have to assess the situation".

After the draw, the Spanish manager spoke on the matter again. "Tomorrow we will have more information. Tomorrow we will have another test on him and it will be more clear." Asked whether he was worried about the injury, Arteta replied: "Yeah, for sure. Especially with the numbers that we have in the squad and looking at our bench. Very worried". Arsenal already have six other players out with injuries - White, Tomiyasu, Saka, Nwaneri, Jesus and Calafiori.

According to 'the Mirror', Saliba is expected to miss the next three matches for the Gunners thus ruling him out for the rest of the month. Two of them include the Champions League fixtures against Dinamo Zagreb and then Girona to conclude the league phase of the tournament. In between the two European games, Arsenal travel to face Wolves at the Molineux.

The same source reports that Saliba could look to make a return on February 2 when Arsenal host Manchester City at the Emirates. Having the 23-year-old defender back for the English champions' visit will be crucial for the north Londoners to contain Erling Haaland. The Norwegian goalscorer has netted three times and assisted twice against Arsenal in the league.

 

January 19, 2025