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.
