William Saliba was a surprise omission from the Arsenal starting XI for the Premier League clash against Chelsea and Mikel Arteta has provided an update on the defender’s fitness issue
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has offered the latest on William Saliba’s fitness following the defender’s absence from Sunday afternoon’s 1-1 stalemate against Chelsea. Saliba was a notable omission from the Gunners’ line-up named by Arteta before the Stamford Bridge encounter.
The club confirmed the France international had picked up a knock during training. “Yesterday in training he was uncomfortable, so we need to explore a little bit more what happened,” Arteta explained before kick-off. “I don’t think it’s something major, but enough not to be involved in the game.”
Following the entertaining London derby draw, Arteta was pressed for additional information about Saliba’s condition. The Chelsea fixture marked only the second occasion in three years, three months and 25 days of Arteta’s tenure that he has been without either Saliba or Gabriel Magalhaes – who is also sidelined with an injury – for a Premier League match, reports football.london.
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“It’s been a headache because obviously we have to have a lot of options and changes in the last few months for different reasons,” he said. “That one is, as you said, with those numbers that I didn’t know, very unexpected, and it happened yesterday.”
“But the beauty of it is that you have players so willing to play, so willing to connect with each other. We will build a relationship even better. So today was a great learning match for all of us and as well give you the assurance that whoever is there is going to perform.”
When asked about a potential return date for Saliba, he said: “I don’t know. I think he’s got another test tomorrow. We’ll need to see the extent of that feeling, that sensation that he had. And we’ll know more with Gabi still more weeks to go.”
Despite leaving the London derby without a win against ten men, Arteta commended his squad for their efforts over the past week, which saw victories over Tottenham and Bayern Munich.
“It’s been a big week, starting with the derby. How emotional and the necessity and the intention we have to win it,” the Spaniard elaborated. “Then to play Bayern Munich three days later. We lost players in those games.
“Today, for example, we had to play [back four] that we never played before in a really difficult match. The captain is still not here. The nine is still not here. Kai [Havertz] is still not here. We lost Leo [Trossard] in midweek as well. But the team had to react to that.
“I think overall it’s been a really positive week because the difficulty was immense. But I have this [feeling] that today we should have and we could have won the game and we haven’t. That’s a learning point for me.”
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