William Saliba Injury: Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal took a hit on Sunday afternoon when West Ham’s Hammers rose to the occasion to dent Gunner’s title hope. Leading with a two goals cushion, the league leaders surrendered to draw 2-2 yet again, having previously witnessed the same against Liverpool, as Arsenal dropped four crucial points in the last two games. Moreover, things are getting bad to worse as it is revealed that centre-back William Saliba will miss the Manchester City clash with an ongoing injury. Follow Premier League News Updates on InsideSport.IN.
Arsenal are currently without their key members William Saliba and Oleksandr Zinchenko, as the Frenchman limped off the field during the Europa League defeat to Sporting Lisbon injuring his back, on the other hand, the Ukranian has a groin issue. However, Zinchenko is anticipated to return in the next Premier League tie against Southampton, as the problem was a minor one.
Speaking of Zinchenko’s injury, head coach Arteta said, ‘He had a muscular issue at the end of the match at Anfield last week.’
‘He struggled in the last few minutes. We assessed him, he wasn’t fit enough to play.’
However, the same can’t be said about Saliba, as reports of Evening Standard suggest, ‘the trip to Manchester City looks like it will come too soon’, for the Frenchman. The 22-year-old who has been a formidable presence at Arsenal’s backline is yet to return to training and regarding the timeline of the injury, Arteta has been somewhat evasive.
‘He’s progressing well and we’re hopeful that we’ll have him available in the next few weeks,’ said the Arsenal boss last week. ‘We’ll have to see.’
Heading into the crucial stage of the season, Arsenal need their best players on the pitch for their surge of the first league title since 2003/04.
Saliba, who took a knock in the defeat to Sporting last month, as Arsenal were dumped out of the Europa League on penalties, since then the North London outfit have conceded six goals in four matches. In the period of these four games, they had faced Crystal Palace, Leeds United, Liverpool, and West Ham, which records for 20% of the total goals they have conceded all season long.
Moreover, right-back Tomiyasu and midfielder Eleny are out for the rest of the season with their respective knee injuries, and will not be back until the summer.
Both Arsenal and Manchester City will meet on April 26, in the title-decider clash as the North London giants hold a narrow four points lead having played a game more than the Blue Manchester rival.
