Boost for Arsenal as new William Saliba injury update emerges

Mikel Arteta provided an encouraging update on William Saliba’s injury in his press conference on Tuesday, suggesting the defender should be back in time for next week’s clash with Manchester City.

Arsenal are missing a few key players at the moment, and the latest to be ruled out of action is William Saliba. The centre-back appeared to suffer a hamstring problem against Tottenham Hotspur, and though he completed the match, he subsequently missed the fixture against Aston Villa.

Mikel Arteta initially suggested that Arsenal were very worried about the injury, but he seemed much more positive on Tuesday, telling the media that Saliba is doing well – even if Wednesday’s game comes a little too soon.

“He is evolving well, the last few days he was feeling much better already but this game comes a little bit too early for him,” Arteta said.

When pressed on whether Saliba could face Manchester City next week, Arteta seemed confident, responding: “Yes, I hope so, yes.”

Reports in the French media had tipped Saliba for three more games out, meaning he’d miss Arsenal’s Champions League clashes with GNK Dinamo and Girona, as well as the Gunners’ Premier League trip to Wolves. At that stage, the City game was still a major doubt.

Arteta’s comments seem a lot more positive. The City game seems to be almost a guarantee, and perhaps the defender now has a chance to return for Arsenal’s final Champions League League Phase match next Wednesday.

Whether Arsenal feel they need the French international or not may well depend on results today, with a win against Dinamo putting the team in a very strong position to finish in the top-eight even if they don’t win next week.

As for Bukayo Saka, there’s been some talk about the winger after he was spotted at Arsenal’s game against Aston Villa without crutches.

Just days earlier, Saka had been using crutches at the Tottenham Hotspur game, so the fact he didn’t need them on Saturday was cause for some excitement among Arsenal fans.

But Arteta was clear in his press conference that nothing has changed with regards to Saka’s comeback, and this is just the expected next step in his long recovery process.

“No, that’s not going to change,” Arteta insisted. “It’s within the process and the time that we had, that phase (on crutches) has gone now.

“He’s doing really well, he’s feeling better day by day, but we have to respect the healing process and then he has a lot of stages to go through in his rehab.”