Mikel Arteta has confirmed William Saliba will not feature for Arsenal against Chelsea.
The Frenchman has been out of action since limping off during the Europa League round of 16 second leg tie against Sporting CP in the middle of March, subsequently missing the last six games in a row with a back injury.
When speaking ahead of the Gunners trip to the Etihad Stadium last week Arteta revealed that he wasn't expecting to have Saliba available for selection for Tuesday night's London derby and that's proven to be the case, with yet another worrying update with regard to the defender.
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"He's not going to be involved tomorrow," the Spaniard said in the pre-match press conference. "We will have to wait until the next game to see where we are."
Following the Chelsea game, the Gunners face Newcastle United away from home at the weekend before wrapping up the campaign with a trip to the City Ground against Nottingham Forest which is sandwiched between welcoming Brighton and Wolves to the Emirates Stadium.
Whether Saliba is able to feature in any of the remaining four fixtures remains to be seen especially as Arteta has previously refused to confirm or deny that the campaign is over for the France international.
"At the moment we don’t have him. We are preparing the game without him and probably the next game will come too soon as well," the Arsenal manager said last week. "We have to go week by week at the moment."
Now, taking Arteta's cautious approach with players returning from long-term injuries into consideration, unless Saliba is back in full training within the next fortnight or so, it could be that he isn't considered for selection until pre-season thus allowing him to get adequate rest ahead of the 2023/24 campaign.
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