William Saliba visited Arsenal for testing by club doctors this week, which is why he didn’t feature in Saint-Etienne’s squad at the weekend.

Arsenal loanee William Saliba missed the last couple of months with an injury, but he’s ready to return to match action now. Despite returning to fitness, he didn’t make the cup squad against Paris FC on Saturday. Coach Claude Puel explained why afterwards.

“He has no physical problems,” Puel said. “He went to Arsenal for testing. It cut his week short. We didn’t put him in the squad because he had two intense days there (with Arsenal).”

Presumably, the Arsenal doctors wanted to get a proper look at Saliba under rigorous testing conditions before they cleared him to return to match action with Saint-Etienne. They don’t want him to continue suffering injuries because he’s not ready to return.

The good news is that Saint-Etienne journalist Chloe Gallot of Ultimo Diez told Daily Cannon she expects Saliba back on the pitch next weekend. Clearly, Arsenal are confident he’s ready for match action now.

That’s very welcome news for everyone in the Saint-Etienne camp. They’ve lost their last four consecutive league games, conceding two or more goals on each occasion.

The team kept four clean sheets in five Ligue 1 fixtures with Saliba in the team. They only have one in the 15 league games without him. He can’t take full credit of course, but he certainly has a positive influence.