The cause of the frenzy happened to be Mohamed Elneny’s most noticeable contribution in weeks. The Arsenal midfielder’s Instagram story showed William Saliba back in the gym, peddling on an exercise bike and pointing to his head. Apart from that, the clip revealed nothing that couldn’t otherwise be seen, but it spread on social media regardless, generating an excited reaction from a fan base desperate to claw onto any sort of positive news ahead of the trip to Manchester City. This was one: Saliba was back, and everything was going to be fine.
And then it wasn’t. First Saliba could not be seen in Arsenal’s training photos ahead of facing Southampton last week, then Mikel Arteta delivered the news. "He is not progressing as quick as we hoped,” Arteta admitted. It all but confirmed that Saliba was out of Arsenal’s biggest Premier League game in 19 years. While Arteta did not want to make predictions, there is now doubt over whether he will play again this season as well. “We are finished,” came one reply. “Goodbye title,” came another, even if Twitter is hardly the place if you are looking to find measured reactions.
