Arsenal are seeing history repeat itself after Mikel Arteta's injury update

21 April 2023 , 15:31

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Reaching April with plenty on the line only to have momentum thwarted by two key injuries; Arsenal have been here before.

The Gunners currently sit top of the Premier League and boast a four-point advantage over nearest challengers Manchester City, but have played one game more than Pep Guardiola's men. For the first time in a long time this term, the title is in City's own hands - if they win the remainder of their games, including the visit of Arsenal next week, they will be champions.

For the bulk of the campaign, City had been relying on favours from other sides to try and put a dent in Arsenal's unlikely title charge. The last two games have seen their wishes granted, with Liverpool and West Ham both coming back from two goals down to draw with the Gunners.

While Mikel Arteta will be frustrated with the way his players surrendered those leads, the results themselves don't tell the full picture.

For both, he was without star centre-back William Saliba, whose entire season is now in doubt after he sustained a lower back injury against Sporting just over a month ago in the Europa League.

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Arteta was also unable to call upon Oleksandr Zinchenko for the more recent clash against the Hammers. The Ukrainian was ruled out due to a groin injury and his absence was sorely felt, with Jarrod Bowen's equaliser coming down the side the former City man would usually occupy.

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Arsenal are seeing history repeat itself after Mikel Arteta's injury update

William Saliba has missed the last four Premier League games with a back injury (Getty Images)

Taking two key figures out of Arsenal's backline didn't so much impact the way Arteta's side defended, but the way they built attacks.

His comments on both ahead of Friday night's home clash with Southampton hardly made for welcome reading from an Arsenal perspective either.

On Saliba, Arteta conceded: "He’s not progressing as quickly as we hoped and it is a bit delicate so we want to be certain that when we push him, he’s ready to absorb the load and the risk that we’ll take, and that’s not possible at the moment."

Pressed for comment on whether the Frenchman would feature again this season, he added: "I don’t know, it’s a bit early to know. Probably next week we’ll have more certainty."

The Spaniard was similarly bleak on Zinchenko, explaining: "We’ll see about that one as well, it’s not certain, t’s a muscular injury and it needs some time to heal and we’re not there yet."

It must feel like history is repeating itself from Arteta's perspective, as the Gunners were in an eerily similar predicament this time last season.

Oleksandr Zinchenko is also a doubt for Arsenal's game against Southampton

Heading into April with a place in the top four on the line, Arsenal lost Kieran Tierney and Thomas Partey to injury and neither were seen again for the remainder of the campaign.

The drop in quality between Tierney, Partey and their respective deputies was too big for the Gunners to handle and as a result, their Champions League qualification hopes were dashed in the form of a late capitulation.