In his latest press conference, Mikel Arteta focused on Arsenal’s upcoming FA Cup clash with league leaders Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium this Sunday and gave fitness updates on the squad.

Liverpool, despite leading the Premier League, come into the game with several key players missing.

Jurgen Klopp will have to navigate the absence of Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo, and notably Mohamed Salah due to injury, the African Cup of Nations, and the Asian Cup.

Klopp also confirmed that he does not plan to rotate for the Arsenal game.

Arsenal, however, face their own challenges. The team will be without Takehiro Tomiyasu, Mohamed Elneny, and Thomas Partey due to Asian Cup, AFCON, and injury respectively.

In addition to those three, Oleksandr Zinchenko is still a doubt. “He’s progressing well,” Arteta said. “We have another training session tomorrow. We’ll evaluate if he’s ready to start the game. The rest there is no news.”

Forgotten man, Fabio Vieira is also still on the sidelines. “He’s doing well,” Arteta said, but the midfielder is still a few weeks away from returning.

Regarding rumours Jurrien Timber could be set to make a ridiculously early return from his ACL injury, Arteta was quick to state the reality of the situation. “Unfortunately that’s a very long term injury,” Arteta said. “He’s doing really well but he’s still far from being fit to train. We don’t expect him any time soon.”

As for Partey, who was not selected by Ghana for AFCON due to his injury, Arteta said, “It was about common sense. He had a long term injury. He really wanted to be with his national team but he’s still far from training for the team and it didn’t make sense for him to be involved.”