Mikel Arteta has confirmed that William Saliba and Gabriel Martinelli will be unavailable for Arsenal’s Carabao Cup clash with Brighton on Wednesday.
Saliba was brought off at half-time at the weekend as the Gunners continued their fine start to the Premier League season with a 1-0 home win over Crystal Palace.
However, the Frenchman was just one of several players who sustained injury concerns after the win at the Emirates, with Declan Rice and Riccardo Calafiori also brought off in the second half.
And while he finished the game, there was also concern for Gabriel Martinelli after he was seen limping down the tunnel at full-time.
The fixtures come thick and fast for Arteta’s side, who host Brighton in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.
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And the Arsenal boss confirmed that Saliba and Martinelli will be unavailable for the fixture.
‘(Saliba) is out. We are assessing him, but he won’t be involved this match,’ Arteta said in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
‘(Martinelli) looks as well that he is going to be out. We have to, again, do some more tests and see the extent of the injury.
‘But this game is going to be too early for him.’
There was some positive news, though, with Arteta confirming that both Rice and Calafiori are available for selection. Bukayo Saka suffered from illness last week and was brought off at the weekend, but should also be ‘fine’.
Arsenal are expected to ring the changes tomorrow after a spell of three games in just eight days, with squad players like Ben White, Piero Hincapie,and Myles Lewis-Skelly all potential call-ups in defence.
‘We are going to try and manage the minutes and the load as best as possible because we have a lot of games coming up,’ Arteta adeed.
‘It is very short recovery time which is a bit unusual but we want to remain very competitive.’
However, the Spaniard conceded that injuries might make rotation in the final third more difficult, especially in the case of Viktor Gyokeres who remains the club’s only fit recognised striker.
‘Yeah in the front line, especially, that is where we have more difficulties, with Gabby Jesus out, Kai out, Martinelli and Madueke out,’ Arteta conceded.
‘That is the area we have to be more careful as we don’t have many options. We are going to try and manage the load as good as possible to make sure the players are fresh and the team can maintain the leve they are showing.’
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