Jurrien Timber, Riccardo Calafiori and Martin Odegaard remain doubts for Arsenal’s Premier League showdown with Manchester City this weekend with Bukayo Saka ruled out.
The Gunners sit six points clear at the summit of English football but City can land another huge blow to their title hopes with victory at the Etihad on Sunday.
Mikel Arteta has been dealing with a number of injury problems since the international break in March.
Saka has not featured since the Carabao Cup final last month, missing the FA Cup defeat to Southampton, both Champions League games against Sporting CP and the league defeat to Bournemouth last time out.
Speaking this week, Arteta revealed his winger has been struggling with an Achilles injury. The Arsenal boss was hopeful it was a matter of ‘days, not weeks’ before Saka will be available again.
But in his pre-match press conference on Friday, the Arsenal boss confirmed Saka is not available for the trip to Manchester.
‘Bukayo is out. That is for sure,’ Arteta said.
‘Hopefully he recovers very soon because he is a tremendous player. He is starting to do some stuff, let’s see how quickly he can be with us.’
Martin Odegaard and Jurrien Timber injury latest
Odegaard meanwhile was back in the team immediately following the international break.
But he has missed the last two games with his international manager Stale Solbakken claiming the Norway star has picked up a minor setback after recent knee issues.
Timber meanwhile has not played since the victory over Everton in mid-March while Calafiori has also missed the last two games.
While he did not rule the trio out, Arteta suggested they face an uphill battle being fit in time for Sunday.
‘Yeah we will try again, some players are quite close but the turnaround is short. We will try tomorrow,’ Arteta said.
Is Noni Madueke injured for Man City game?
Noni Madueke has served as Saka’s understudy on the right for much of the season, starting in his place in recent weeks.
The former Chelsea star was in the side again on Wednesday against Sporting but was forced off in the second-half.
He is another major doubt for the trip up north.
‘We have another training session tomorrow,’ Arteta said when asked about Madueke. ‘It didn’t look that bad after the game, and he is someone who pushes through pain. But we will have to wait and see.’
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