Arsenal have the chance to add breathing space between themselves and Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table this evening when they welcome Southampton to the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners are only four points above their title rivals after slipping to two consecutive 2-2 draws against Liverpool and West Ham. Victory over the bottom-of-the-table side would see them stretch their lead to seven points before Wednesday's 'final' between the two.
Mikel Arteta's side have been the victim of a number of injury concerns at the worst possible time in recent weeks. William Saliba has missed the last four games after sustaining a back injury in the Europa League defeat to Sporting CP whilst Oleksandr Zinchenko was absent from the trip to West Ham.
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Despite hope that the duo could return to today's clash against Southampton, Arteta was the bearer of bad news in his pre-match press conference. "No big news," he said. "The picture hasn't changed from last week. Regarding William [Saliba], we still have to wait a little more.
"He is not progressing as quick as we hoped. It's a bit delicate and we want to be very certain when we push him that he is ready to absorb the load and the risk that we will take and at the moment that's not possible to do."
The Spaniard was also unable to predict when the Frenchman would return. "I don’t know, it’s a bit early to do [predictions]," he explained.
"Probably next week we are going to have more certainty. There is some evolution, he is doing more activity, but he is not there yet to start to throw him on the pitch at the level that the sessions demand to compete in this league."
In Zinchenko's case, there is reason to be optimistic. The Ukrainian had played every league game since October before missing last week's trip to the London Stadium due to a groin injury.
"We will see with that one as well, it's not certain," Arteta said on Zinchenko. "It’s a muscular injury and it needs some time to heal, and we are not there yet," Arteta continued.
After Eddie Nketiah marked his return to action in over a month last time out, the Gunners are now only without Takehiro Tomiyasu and Mohamed Elneny.
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