Mikel Arteta says William Saliba is not recovering from his back injury at the rate Arsenal had hoped in what appears to be an admission that the Frenchman will not be available for next week’s clash with Manchester City at the Emirates.
Worryingly, the Spaniard also suggested that Oleksandr Zinchenko is also still struggling with a groin issue that ruled him out of last weekend’s 2-2 draw at West Ham.
Before the Gunners head to the Etihad, they take on Southampton at the Emirates on Friday night. At his pre-game press conference, the manager was asked for an update on the fitness of his defensive duo.
“No big news. The picture hasn’t changed from last week. Regarding William, we still need to wait a little bit more. He’s not progressing as quick as we hoped, it’s a bit delicate and we want to be very certain when we push him that he’s ready to absorb the load and the risk that we will take. At the moment, that’s not possible to do.
“I don’t know [if it’s a season-ending injury], it’s a bit early. Probably next week, we’ll have more certainty. There is some evolution, he’s doing more activity but it’s not there yet to start to throw him on the pitch at the level that the sessions demand to compete in this league.”
On Zinchenko, he added: “We will see that one as well, it’s not certain. It’s a muscular injury and he needs some time to heal, we’re not there yet.”
It’s worth noting that Zinchenko was pictured in training yesterday so we have to hope he’s not suffered a bad reaction to the session. If there are any doubts, you can’t help but think he’ll sit out the Saints test in the hope of being ready for Wednesday’s clash with his former club at the Etihad.
In the absence of Zinchenko and Saliba, Arteta has relied on Kieran Tierney and Rob Holding to fill in. While it’s probably fair to say the team doesn’t look quite as comfortable implementing the usual game plan, the boss couldn’t speak highly enough of the experienced duo.
“Their contribution is huge. First of all the way they behave around the team, how patient they have been, and when they have to play what they have produced in terms of performances,” said the Spaniard.
“Now, they are playing more games, they are playing more minutes and will continue to do so. This is why you need top-quality players with the right mentality to be ready when you need them – on the pitch, and when you are not using them that much on the pitch, to contribute to the team in the right way. Those two are great examples of that.
“They are both great characters, they are really liked among the players. They bring that special energy to the team and I’m really happy to have them.”
This is the reason why financial doping should result in being stripped of titles. If Man City had such injuries, the replacements would be almost like for like in terms of quality. If we were in such position, we wouldn’t have lost against West ham and its reasonable to think we’d have won at anfield as we were 2-0 up
Everybody knew at the time that their sponsorship deals and suchlike were a pisstake but nobody did anything about it
They just bypassed the regulations and shafted us in the process
Which ever way you slice it they have and continue to have an unfair advantage that undermines the very ethics of sporting competition.
If it turns out to be corrupt also, they should have the book thrown at them. Thankfully people with untold amounts of money are never above the law… 😑
Well, hopefully the charges they have to answer will see them stripped of their titles. Would be kind of funny to see them win the treble only to see some lawyers take it all away just a few weeks later. Would be terrible for the image of football though, it should never have got this far with financial doping and should have been nipped in the bud when Putin’s buddy arrived on the scene with some percentage of Russia’s sovereign wealth.
tbh i suspect the thing with the charges was just for the benefit of the new independent regulator / govt
Agree to an extent with you. Fact remains that unless City are convicted of their charges, that squad will remain the strongest in the league by a mile. Don’t think Pep is leaving soon either. But the players WE had on the pitch are more than good enough to put West Ham to paid after taking a 2-0 lead. The whole 2nd half there, we hardly got to play our way. For me that was the hardest thing to take from the last game, especially after the way we’ve blazed through the season so far! Anyway, backing the team to… Read more »
We didn’t lose against West Ham, despite it feeling like we did.
You have a point about financial doping, but it’s not an excuse for what happened vs WHU. Blowing a 2-0 lead against a relegation candidate it’s embarrassing. Furthermore, KT is good backup, Holding looked rusty thou.
To reaffirm my point, Manchester City, would have less points as they’d Ben dropping more points with a weaker squad due to rotation/injury. It’s a miracle we are able to match them with a wekaer squad. Essentially we should be able to drop points here and there as the invincibles did, the standard shouldn’t be you have to win 90% of games, as has become the norm due to how strong City’s squad is
No, in the days before financial doping, title-winning teams always dropped points along the way. No one won every game in the run-in.
I must be missing something here. We lost at Liverpool and West Ham because we shot our self in the foot. It had feck all to with financial fair play.
The problem is that the bar to win the title has been raised so high by City that it’s extremely difficult for anybody else to do it. You virtually have to win every game.
If we hadn’t lost Jesus we would probably be out of sight now. We did well without him but it seems likely it cost us a few points. Now it seems our level has dropped a bit because of injuries to Zinchenko and Saliba. The squad is good but there’s not much doubt theirs is better.
What you’re missing is the fact that AFC lost neither of those matches.
Hehe. Well spotted
To reaffirm my point, Manchester City, would have less points as they’d be dropping more points with a weaker squad due to rotation/injury. It’s a miracle we are able to match them with a wekaer squad. Essentially we should be able to drop points here and there as the invincibles did, the standard shouldn’t be you have to win 90% of games, as has become the norm due to how strong City’s squad is
It’s all relative. When we dominating the premiership with United it was because we had the best players. We could still drop points and did many times. City got beat at home by Brentford, drew with Everton and got very lucky with a 94th minute penalty against Fulham. The standard of the premiership as a whole has improved. My point still remains, throwing away a two goal lead against a poor West Ham side whose standard is in decline had feck all to with financial fair play.
Completely. If they committed a crime then strip them off the title and say there were no winners that year.
That way the record shows with what disrespect and mockery these financial groups have treated our league.
If Saliba and Zinchenko are not fit for City, so be it! Holding and Tierney are professional footballers; they will give their best. There is no need to feel sorry for ourselves at this point. Who says they can’t go to Etihad and win with them two? Stranger things have happened. Those who watched their game against Leicester City would notice that Kelechi and Madison had clear chances to hurt City. In fact, with better finishing, Leicester might have nicked a point at the end. Our boys will get chances too; I hope they take them. If they do, we… Read more »
Back problems are buggers, I doubt we’ll see him again this season. It would probably make sense just to have the op and make sure he’s fit and ready to go for what is surely going to be an epic season with CL back again.
Please God, Zinky will be fit enough for next Wednesday.
As for Saliba, that fucking Europa League game could have a massive say In whether we win this title or not.
Turner, Tommi, Tierney, Holding, Kiwior, Jorginho, Xhaka, Vieira, Nelson, Trossard and ESR.
That was the team I proposed we put out against Sporting at the Emirates – and the downvotes went through the roof.
“Suicidal” was one of the more polite remarks I received from the Europa Fan Club.
Suicidal? Really? Now go figure…..
It’s beginning to sound a lot like last year… Will we have any fit defenders in the final three games?
Against Southampton, Tierney should be more than enough, though.
Kinda okay with Tierney starting against City. Zinchenko can be a bit too Heart-on-Sleeve, City know his defensive and maybe even psychological weaknesses pretty well and will probably target him. Arsenal took the game to City exceptionally well in the 2-1 loss to City in Jan ‘22 with Tierney in the side – even better than the last home game against them, until the red card. WS is a bigger worry. I do wonder if White would be playing at CB if we still had Tomiyasu available. That said, everyone says Holding struggled against Haaland in the FA Cup and… Read more »
He was taken off at halftime
That’s right. Keeping Haaland goalless for even a single half of football is a non-negligible achievement.
I thought White would stay at RB given how good he’s been there and Tomiyasu would’ve come in for Saliba at RCB. Either way a moot point now that Tomi is out. Holding keeping Haaland goalless feels more down to Haaland than Holding, but whatever it was I hope we get more of it next week.
Our title hopes ended at the Sporting Lisbon Games and both Tomi and Saliba got injured. Is sad but that’s the truth.
Whatever happens we must enjoy this season. We are not bottlers if we run out of gas at this stage of the season. The most important thing is to invest this summer so we can also contend for the title next season. We still have a slim chance this season but injuries to Saliba show our defects and this has to be addressed in the summer window.
Play Viera as Inverted left back…kalas!
Playing City at home again should even the scales a bit I think. The sanctions have started already?