Mikel Arteta says Arsenal will find out on Monday the full extent of injures to Takehiro Tomiyasu and William Saliba.
Both players picked up injures as Arsenal were knocked out of the Europa League by Sporting on Thursday and they missed Sunday’s 4-1 win over Crystal Palace.
Saliba is suffering with a back injury and, according to reports in his native France, will pull out of the national squad for the upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers.
Tomiyasu has a knee problem and he was at Emirates Stadium to watch on Sunday, leaving the ground in a brace and on crutches. Arteta is not optimistic on the prospects of Tomiyasu, who has pulled out of the Japan squad, but he is hopeful about Saliba.
“We don’t know,” said Arteta, when asked if Tomiyasu will play again this season. “Obviously the doctor is assessing him. We’ve had one assessment, they need to have another assessment tomorrow, but it’s not looking good, that’s for sure.
“Looking at Tomi, he’s not someone who exaggerates things. He was really concerned straight away, and we are concerned. We hope Willy is going to be better news but again we have to wait until tomorrow to understand a better picture.
“We have lost players – we lost Gabby [Jesus] for four months, we lost Thomas [Partey] for one and a half months, we lost Alex Zinchenko for one and a half months, we lost [Mohamed] Elneny for six to eight months, now we lost Eddie [Nketiah] and now we lost Tomiyasu and Saliba.
“Everybody has to give more. It’s not a secret, if we want to maintain that level, everyone has to step in, give more and Rob is a great example of what we needed today.”
Arsenal beat Palace on Sunday to move eight points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League.
They will return after the international break with 10 games to go and Arteta has urged the players to stay focused ahead of their next game with Leeds on April 1.
“That they really look after themselves in this period,” said Arteta, when asked what his message will be when the players return from the international break.
“I will try to look after the players that have to remain with us here and that they come back with the same mindset that they have before so that we can go into Leeds which is the only important game we have right now and try to win that one.”
