It’s still in Arsenal’s hands but Thursday’s North London Derby defeat to Tottenham may be a demoralising blow to a team who were front runners to secure Champions League football. The warning signs were there from the start as defender Rob Holding came together near the touchline on several occasions with Son. Holding’s aggression eventually got the better of him as he was shown a red card for what appeared to be an elbow in Son’s face.
"I cannot do it [talk about the referees]," said Mikel Arteta after the game
"I just want to say I'm really proud of my players. I can't wait to play on Monday."
The reaction from Gunners boss Arteta was to immediately go over to his assistant Albert Stuivenberg and decide collectively which decision to make next. Ben White was clearly not fit enough to be involved on the night despite making the travelling squad and it’s a concern that Gabriel came off in the second half with what looked like a hamstring injury.
"Gabi is not normally a player who asks to get off the pitch," said Arteta.
"He felt something but hopefully it's not much. It's a muscular problem and we'll have to assess it."
football.london understands that William Saliba is set to see out his loan deal at Marseille, with the contract itself running until the end of June. Fans on social media suggested that a loan recall could be possible due to Arsenal’s injury problems.
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Dan Ballard, who is on loan at Millwall and spent the past few weeks on the sidelines, remains another option but it appears more likely that Arsenal will look internally to solve their issues at this stage.
Arsenal face Newcastle and Everton in their final two Premier League games of the season. They are winnable matches from Arteta’s point of view but with a potential centre back injury crisis, those matches don’t look as comprehensive as they should have been.
For Arteta, he’s overseen a team who have won at Stamford Bridge, beaten Manchester United and Tottenham at home while also running Liverpool and Manchester City close in the respective home encounters. They were dismantled after Holding’s red card but the game itself will mean nothing if the Gunners win their next two games.
