According to Kaya Kaynak of Football London, William Saliba is set to miss Saturday’s Premier League clash with Leeds.
The French defender aggravated an ongoing back issue against Sporting CP in the Europa League, and has not yet recovered sufficiently to be in contention for the weekend.
William Saliba set to miss Leeds clash with back injury. Unclear when exactly his return to the squad will be atm.
Full story 👇https://t.co/TCselAC2hC
— Kaya Kaynak (@kayakaynak97) March 30, 2023
It is believed that the 21 year old may require surgery to fix the issue, but with 10 games left to play this season, it remains to be seen if that is something which can be delayed until the summer.
Any operation now would be season ending, but with continued treatment, pain killing injections, and sharing the load with Rob Holding, he may still play a part between now and the end of May.
It will depend on how risky it is and whether or not playing him would significantly worsen the injury.
Saliba and Gabriel started every Premier League game this season until the 4-1 win over Crystal Palace, and have been a superb partnership this season.
This injury has been compounded by the fact Takehiro Tomiyasu has been ruled out for the rest of the season, as the Japan international could have played right-back, allowing Ben White to move into the centre of defence where he played last season.
Fingers crossed for Big Willy.
That’s a bummer and comes at a time Tomi is also injured for the remainder of the season
This is fine 🔥🏠🐶🔥
We need him. Hopefully Haaland is out too, to balance the situation a bit.
Who said Arsenal don’t get injuries???
Haaland and Rashford both faked their injuries. They will play this weekend.
Rob is capable of handling the tap in merchant. I like our chances even with Haaland. 3 points would be pandemonium, 1 pt would also be good. I say 2-2 with slim chance for a win.
I like your confidence despite the fact we couldn’t even manage a draw against them at home :/
Our recent losses to them were purely psychological and not lack of talent or ability
Classic
Finally get a ticket for an Arsenal game and I won’t get to take part in the Saliba song!!!! Gutted for him, me and the team
How did you get a ticket? Gold dust.
If you start it off, I’ll join in
Da da dada da da dada…
You’re on!
Da da dada da da
da
EBOUE!
🙃
Oh feck, double feck! I thought Holding did very well coming in for Saliba in the last match,but for me, with all due respect to Holding, it’s like having a Rolls and a Mercedes, if your Rolls breaks down, yes, the Merc is luxurious enough to drive around in comfortably but it ain’t no Rolls☹️
I love Holding but would compare him more to a workhorse ute. He def ain’t no Mercedes.
you’re comparing a bmw and a mercedes, they’re functionally the same car
I would have the comparison between a Rolls and a Toyota. Yes, Holding is not fancy, not posh and also not pricy. So what do you get with a Toyota? You will they will always start even not driving it for months, reliable work horse and low maintenance. Think Holding is slowly moulding into a Elneny, a Monreal, a Rarlour
Fuckery. Well Robbie, we know you can do it mate! Let’s see it again brother!
and over and over and over again even, it’s all good we can do this
F*cking Eric Ten Hag!
No thanks.
Fuck Eric Seven Hag
Still a no.
Please tell us that this is an early April Fools prank
Sign Pique on a 10-match deal. Surely can’t be worse than Mustafi.
yes lets add the most divorced man in world football to the dressing room. surely that won’t ruin the harmony at all
We should also consider Puyol, he is free.
Imagine Ivan Campo could still do a job.
if you’re going back that far Tony Adams would have to be the choice.
If we have to play the remaining games with Rob Holding them we might as well hand City the title. Let’s try the new guy Kiwi, he can’t be any worse.
I think Rob Holding is really a top guy. A natural born defender, who always gave his best for the club and he really has big games, big fights behind him. Moreover he is not someone who is whining or complaining, and he proved many times that he is capable of putting morons like D. Costa in his pocket.
OK Saliba is a enourmous talent, but if there is somebody on the bench that we can count on: I think it is Holding.
I am sorry I have to disagree with you. He is a top bloke yes, but he is not good enough to play against City, Chelsea and Liverpool if you want 7 points. He is not convincing enough and more of a liability. His red card at the end of last season against sp*rs cost us the game and most of the games he has played in Europa League and Cup games against weaker opponents he has been average at best. Hopefully Saliba can recover by the Liverpool game or Kiwior should be given a chance. He played at the… Read more »
Is Kaya Kaynak of Football London a reliable sauce?
I personally prefer that Peri Peri drizzle from Nando’s
“Rob Holding, you know, he’s better than Cannavaro!”
Absolutely not
cannavaro couldn’t handle a rainy night in stoke
I just don’t think Rob and his flowing locks at CB for the last 10 games will get us over the line. I’d rather see Benjamin there.
I don’t think you realise the impact that would have on us going forward. If we are strong going forward, there is less for the defenders to do. If we are weak going forward, there is more for them to do. I’d rather dominate the game going forward than have White and Gabriel being bombarded just because that’s where White should be
Oh I very much do realise that but for almost the same reason I have more faith in the magnitude of our attacking talent taking up the slack than I have of the weakness that the big teams will look to expose. If it was 2 or 3 games then fine, not 10. At least at rb or lb we can double up but centrally you’re in more trouble.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Holding popped up with an important goal in one of these final games. He came close a few times in the Sporting and Palace games. I have faith.
You realise that I’d love that. Almost like a reborn andy linighan in the final against Sheffield Wednesday!
The reality is, vs Leeds we are expected to have 65+% possession. The importance of our attacking play with Saka and White far outweigh the importance to have White at center back.
Additionally, Gabriel, Holding and White did not have any international duties so there is absolutely no way on this planet Mikel has not had them 3 together going through things
This is an excellent point.
Well, we’ve been here before haven’t we. Fuck.
Perhaps we’ll get to see how good Kivior is. Not a lot of experience in the Premier League and he’s really young…. But then, that was very much the case with Saliba when he came back this season. Fingers crossed he’s not as badly injured as we fear, though.
Kiwior is a year older than Saliba
We should be ok without him for Leeds but couldn’t be more desperate for him to come back for Anfield and West Ham, wins there would be enormous to go into the City game without the pressure of feeling the entire season rests on it. And especially at Anfield he will be sorely needed to deal with their attackers…
This could add a juicy taste to the EPL title if Holding comes in and replicates his heroics against Diego Costa in the ’17 FA Cup in the 10 remaining games. After all, they are all “Cup Finals,” and that seems to be Holding’s specialty.
Arteta doesn’t give much away when talking about injuries to important players who influence an apposing teams tactics. Clearly Willy has a back problem but talk of a potential operation that would end his season is wild speculation for clicks and drama. We can get away with Holding on Saturday so another week off for Willy that will have him ready for Liverpool the following week. West Ham and Southampton after and Holding can step in for both if need be but then it’s the big one at ManC which we need Willy ready for. I’m confident that whilst Willy… Read more »
As a frenchman this remind me of how Umtiti ruined his career to win this world cup in 2018. He played every game on injection and now he’s a shadow of himself.
I don’t wanna overdramatize, but this is a tough situation because I don’t think we can win the link without Saliba.
League*
Let’s wait and see how it is handled. If he has to sit on the sidelines, then so be it. Health is above all.
No matter what happens, Holding is a great guy, a servant of this club for so long and almost one of our own even. Good luck to him & we’ll be backing him til the end.
Holding is going to come through, I promise!
I saw it in Holdings eyes in the last game
Yeah he was defending so high up the pitch, which means Arteta has coached him and put his faith in him to do that
We have two great left backs. Surely Ben White can come back to centre back, and Zinchenko can move to right back, since he clearly plays wherever he feels like anyway…
10 FA Cup final vs Diego Costa performances, Rob. Become legendary.
The Kiwior signing has become very important now. As long Rob and Gabriel stay fit, we should have enough in the tank to still push for the title. If one of them needs a breather or picks an injury, then we have Kiwior. We don’t have the distraction of Europa League now. Let’s go full tilt. COYG.
The return of The Bolton Baresi
It is actually quite poetic how we have always sent Rob on when we need to Hold on to our leads for the last ten minutes.
Bring Robbie on for the last ten games to keep us Holding On to our lead!
This is sad. He has been outstanding. I really really hope he is fit again soon. Holding is good CB to have as a backup. No team can have Saliba/Gabriel caliber on the pitch and on the bench. With the versatility of White, we are slightly better prepared. We can deal with this! As an another fantasy adjustment… may be may be this is the time to switch White to RCB, Zinch to LB, and Tierney to shine on LB! Tierney overlapping on the left flank with the speed he has… with Tierney and Martinelli’s pace on the left, we… Read more »
This is sad. He has been outstanding. I really really hope he is fit again soon. Holding is good CB to have as a backup. No team can have Saliba/Gabriel caliber on the pitch and on the bench. With the versatility of White, we are slightly better prepared. We can deal with this! As an another fantasy adjustment… may be may be this is the time to switch White to a RCB, Zinch to LB, and Tierney to shine on LB! Tierney overlapping on the left flank with the speed he has… with Tierney and Martinelli’s pace on the left,… Read more »
I wont sweat over it yet. We have few options- Swap Saliba for Holding. Holding has done well, though the Pool and City away matches become tad more difficult now. Play White for Saliba, zinny on the right as inverted, and TIerney on the left. THis will screw the great partnership White has chalked upwith Sake, so would not like to disturb that Play a White in a 3-5-2 – with Trossard and Jesus both upfront. Messes up Saka again. More unlikely to go with a 3 man defense this late in the season Hopefully Arteta will take the right… Read more »