Mikel Arteta has given injury updates on William Saliba and Oleksandr Zinchenko ahead of Arsenal’s upcoming league fixtures.

Arsenal were missing two members of their first-choice back four against West Ham United at the weekend, with William Saliba remaining absent with his back problem and Oleksandr Zinchenko picking up a groin issue.

Saliba is certainly not going to return in time for Arsenal’s match against Southampton on Friday, but some supporters were optimistic he might be back against Manchester City.

Unfortunately, Mikel Arteta’s press conference injury update didn’t sound particularly encouraging on that front.

“I don’t know,” Arteta said. “Probably next week we will have more certainty. There is some evolution, he’s doing more activity, but he’s not there yet to start to throw him on the pitch at the level demanded to compete in this league.

“We still need to wait a little bit more. He’s not progressing as quick as we hoped. It’s a bit delicate.

“We want to be certain when we push him that he’s ready to absorb the risk that we would take and at the moment that’s not possible.”

On Zinchenko, Arteta told the media he was hopeful that the left-back would be able to feature against Southampton, but it’s not a certainty.

“It’s a muscular injury and it needs some time to heal,” Arteta said. “We’re not there yet.”

Zinchenko’s situation does seem a bit more positive, as the defender was spotted back in training with the team on Wednesday.

Though he might not be 100%, it seems the Ukraine international is a lot close to a comeback than Saliba.