After this weekend's round of Premier League fixtures and the first international break of the year, it will officially be the business end of the 2022/23 season and the importance of player availability for the run-in won't be lost on Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.
The Spaniard, despite claims of the contrary, hasn't had the luxury of having every single first-team player available for selection ahead of the majority of fixtures this season and was handed a double injury scare in the Europa League round of 16 penalty shoot-out defeat by Sporting CP on Thursday night.
In the first-half the Gunners boss saw both William Saliba and Takehiro Tomiyasu limp off and early signs suggest the latter could be facing a spell on the sidelines: "I don’t know. Tomiyasu looks pretty serious from his reaction straight and what he said to me, but obviously, it’s very early," Arteta said. "Willy? I don’t know, he had some discomfort and could not continue so we had to take him out.
READ MORE: Arsenal facing wait on William Saliba injury with Takehiro Tomiyasu out for Crystal Palace
"We've been carrying injuries throughout the season. We had Emile out for four months, Jesus for four months, Thomas for a month and a half, Alex for two and half months, Eddie for a month and a half. We had quite a lot of injuries already, but we dealt with them. The disappointment is not going to go away it's there now. But there's also clarity. It's 11 games to go now and we have a final against Crystal Palace. We have to recover and put all the focus there and win."
In addition to hoping to recover some injured players for the visit of Crystal Palace on Sunday, the Arsenal boss may have to consider the threat, albeit an unlikely one, of a two-game suspension for one of his key players when it comes to naming his starting line-up for the London derby at the Emirates Stadium.
As confirmed by the FA in their 'Information for Players on Disciplinary Procedures' 2022-23 season guide at the beginning of the campaign, any player who accumulates 10 bookings before the cut-off point of 32 matches will have to serve an automatic two-match ban.
With 27 games of the Premier League season gone for Arsenal, Bukayo Saka is the only member of Arteta's squad that can still technically serve a two-game yellow card suspension and it won't be until after the Southampton fixture on April 21 that the Gunners reach the aforementioned cut-off point.
Currently on five bookings, if the winger was to be shown a yellow card in each of the Gunners' next five fixtures - against Palace, Leeds United, Liverpool, West Ham United and Southampton - then he would be suspended for the huge game against Manchester City on April 26 and the Chelsea clash three days later.
So, the first attempt for Saka to avoid being a suspension risk ahead of the double-header, is this weekend as he needs to avoid going into the referee's notebook. Having said that, it would be a huge surprise if Arteta decides to leave the 21-year-old out of the starting line-up in an attempt to protect him.
Even if the England international was to get booked against the Eagles, he would have another four games to fall back on and the fact he was a suspension risk earlier in the year - ahead of games against Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United - is proof he knows how to watch his step.
The next Arsenal players with the most yellow cards across the squad are Gabriel Jesus, Saliba, Granit Xhaka, Benjamin White, Gabriel Magalhaes and captain Martin Odegaard - all of whom are on four. Then there's Gabriel Martinelli on three, with Eddie Nketiah, Thomas Partey, Tomiyasu and Oleksandr Zinchenko on two.
What will please Arteta is that all 11 senior stars will be able to relax during the run-in as they are not in danger of being suspended via this particular scenario as only a red card can result in a suspension between now and the end of the season.
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