Inside Arsenal's injury crisis - Six players out & growing William Saliba fears
The season may only be six Premier League games old, but Mikel Arteta's Arsenal side are already feeling the strain.
The Gunners have enjoyed an unbeaten start to the campaign in terms of results, with the north Londoners currently sitting fifth and boasting a record of four wins and two draws. While there are still concerns over some off-field issues, it is the mounting number of names on the treatment table that will concern Arteta the most.
Arsenal's fixture list in the coming weeks is by no means easy, starting with this Saturday's trip to Bournemouth and a huge potential title showdown against reigning champions Manchester City the following week. There is also the small matter of a Champions League game away at Lens wedged in between.
With that in mind, Mirror Football has taken a closer look at Arsenal's injury woes and Arteta's stance on the situation.
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The sick list
Bukayo Saka went off injured vs Tottenham last weekend and may miss the Bournemouth game (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)There is a chance Arsenal arrive at the Vitality on Saturday with as many as six first-team regulars ruled out. William Saliba and Fabio Vieira were deemed not fit enough for Wednesday's win away at Brentford, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice appear to still be nursing knocks sustained in the north London derby while the club's two left-forwards in Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard are also doubts.
The likes of Saka, Rice and Trossard are often very reliable when it comes to fitness, but if the situation plays out as expected they are unlikely to feature at all against Bournemouth. Saliba, Vieira and Martinelli all have previous when it comes to extended spells on the sidelines.
From Arteta's perspective, the Arsenal boss is well aware that every game is a must-win when trying to steal the crown from City, but he may have one eye on the game against Pep Guardiola's side the following weekend. Given the Champions are the Gunners' next league game after the Cherries, Arteta is surely less likely to risk a premature return for any of the crocked talents.
The reasons behind the crisis
Mikel Arteta has bemoaned the work load on players nowadays (Getty Images)Arteta has recently lost the ex-head of his medical department in Gary O'Driscoll, now of Manchester United, but that is not why Arsenal's players are dropping like flies according to the Spaniard.
When asked what he put the injury issues down to, he claimed: "Different reasons. Some of them happened in training, and some of them had knocks and small muscular niggles. But the load played a part.
"Going to their national teams, coming back from their national teams, the load went through the roof. The demands continue to be really high and the fact that we had three or four out already meant that they didn't have enough time to recover."
Saliba update
William Saliba could be ruled out of Saturday's trip to Bournemouth (Javier Garcia/REX/Shutterstock)Though all of the injuries will worry the Gunners boss, last season's title capitulation shows how fragile Arsenal can be without their rock at the back. Saliba's omission for the Carabao Cup win against Brentford may not have initially sparked panic given he would have likely sat it out anyway, but Arteta has shed light on a fitness problem.
Pressed for comment on both Saliba and Vieira's absence, the Arsenal boss explained: "Let’s see how everybody is today. They weren’t selected. They weren’t fit enough to be in the squad that’s it. My hope is that everybody is fit and available. We need them."
For some minor attacking woes, Arsenal have looked fairly solid at the back so far this term but it remains to be seen how they would fare without Saliba in the league. Arteta and his medical team could face a race against time to try and restore the Frenchman to full fitness.
Arteta's update
Mikel Arteta has given his thoughts on Arsenal's injury struggles (Getty Images)The Gunners boss spoke at length over the injury issues currently plaguing the club during his pre-match media duties and addressed the conditions of the other players struggling. When it comes to Saka, every Arsenal fan will be sweating over the state of his fitness.
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Arteta had this to say: "Hopefully it's not something big, we are confident. He's still uncomfortable, obviously he had to leave the pitch and that's never a good sign for a player like him, but hopefully he will progress in the next few days. It's a tough one."
It was a similar sentiment shared for Trossard, with the manager adding: "Let's see day by day how he improves and whether he's got a chance for the weekend or not. He did some activity and that's where he felt it. He wasn't comfortable to carry on the session the day before the game and he hasn't trained yet, so not available for tomorrow."
The Gunners remain without longer-term absentees Jurrien Timber and Thomas Partey. The former is set to miss the majority of the season after sustaining an ACL injury on his debut, while the timeline of the latter's recovery is unclear.
"He's still not available," Arteta said of Partey. "It's a long list! Still not. The same with Jurrien. It's the situation that we have at moment we have to adapt. The squad we have at the moment is really short and we have to cope."
His comments certainly smack of a manager increasingly infuriated by the situation and given all of the impacted players are key to his plans, Arteta's frustration is understandable.
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