Mikel Arteta gave four injury updates in his pre-Brentford press conference on Tuesday, with two pieces of good news and two players ruled out of the match.
Arsenal’s injury list appeared to be thinning down after the November international break, but a minor muscle injury for Leandro Trossard and a training injury for William Saliba meant both players joined Gabriel Magalhaes and Kai Havertz in missing out over the weekend.
The good news on the two new injuries is that neither appear to be serious, with a possibility that both could be involved in time for the Brentford game on Wednesday.
“I am not going to be able to help you much today as we have another training session,” Arteta began, but added: “[Saliba] had a little niggle, but I think it’s going to be a matter of days.”
On Trossard, Arteta again confirmed it should be just a “matter of days” until the player is back.
Yet on Havertz and Gabriel the prognosis was a bit less positive, with Arteta confirming it’s a “matter of weeks” for Havertz and confirming media reports of a setback to the Germany international.
As for Gabriel, Arteta said: “He’s doing very well but that’s weeks as well.”
If Arsenal can at least get Trossard and Saliba back this week, as well as getting the likes of Martin Odegaard, Noni Madueke, Viktor Gyokeres, and Gabriel Jesus closer to starts, then the squad would be in a very good position going into the festive period.
Havertz and Gabriel’s returns will also be significant boosts, and it’s certainly a big shame not to have them involved right now. But to cut the injury list to just two players would be about as good as it’s been for a long while.