Mikel Arteta will make a late fitness call on defender Takehiro Tomiyasu ahead of Wednesday night's Premier League clash with Liverpool.
The Reds take on the North London club at the Emirates in a bid to reduce the gap to Manchester City at the top of the table to just one point. There was another unexpected twist in the title race on Monday night after City drew 0-0 with Crystal Palace.
That will mean very little, though, if Jurgen Klopp 's side are unable to keep momentum going and win their game in hand against the Gunners. Having not lost to Arsenal in their three meetings already this season, they'll need a similar result this time around.
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One player Arteta could be without is Tomiyasu, who has missed their last six games with a calf injury. The Arsenal boss confirmed on Tuesday they are being 'careful' with the 23-year-old's recovery and a late decision will be made on whether he's in contention to face Liverpool.
“Tomi is the only one that's still there in contention [to miss the game]," Arteta told arsenal.com. "We have been trying to push him, but with the handbrake a little bit because we need to be careful as we don’t want to get another injury with him. We don’t know [if tomorrow is too soon]. Let’s see how he trains today.”
Emile Smith Rowe has recently returned to action after testing positive for Covid-19 earlier this month. The midfielder came on as a 78th-minute substitute for Gabriel Martinelli in their 2-0 win over Leicester City at the weekend.
Liverpool have been handed an injury boost themselves as Klopp revealed on Tuesday that Mohamed Salah will train and could be named in the squad against Arsenal. However, both Kostas Tsimikas and James Milner will be absent due to illness.
