Mikel Arteta provides worrying injury update on William Saliba
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has admitted that there has been no improvement on William Saliba's fitness amid concerns the defender will be out for the remainder of the season.
The centre-back was forced off during the club's Europa League round of 16 second leg clash with Sporting CP - a game which saw the Gunners lose on penalties - due to a back issue and he has missed all five Premier League games since.
Saliba's absence has notably led to a downturn in fortunes for the Gunners, who have failed to win three of those games the defender has missed - conceding a worrying nine goals in the process.
Speaking at his press conference of the title-deciding clash with Manchester City in midweek at the Etihad Stadium, Arteta was asked about Saliba's potential availability.
"There’s not been a real improvement unfortunately on him," the manager explained. "So we are still waiting. We are still hopeful but obviously it is another week that has gone by and he hasn’t been able to train with the team.
“I’ll leave that to the doctors to explain if they have to explain. At the moment, we don’t have him. We are preparing for this game without him and next game [against Chelsea] obviously probably is going to come too close as well so we have to go week-by-week at the moment.”
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Mikel Arteta on Granit Xhaka availability
Another concern for Arteta is Granit Xhaka's recent illness which kept the midfielder out of the Gunners' disappointing 3-3 draw with Southampton on Friday evening.
Speaking about Xhaka, the Arsenal manager confirmed that he is still yet to train but will hopefully be ready for one session prior to the game against Man City.
“Granit has been out, hopefully he will be able to train today but he’s still a doubt," Arteta said.
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