Arteta Hopeful Amidst Tomiyasu Injury Update

William Saliba, Takehiro Tomiyasu joined the Arsenal injury list of Jesus, Elneny, Zinchenko, Nketiah, and Partey in the encounter against Sporting on Thursday.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is unsure if Tomiyasu will return from injury this season, though he is hopeful the Gunners will receive more positive news on fellow defender William Saliba.

Tomiyasu and Saliba were both forced out of Arsenal’s Europa League last-16 second leg against Sporting CP – which Arteta’s men eventually lost on penalties – with injuries on Thursday.

Asked after the weekend win over Palace, whether Tomiyasu’s knee injury could rule him out for the rest of the campaign, Arteta said: “We don’t know, obviously the doctor is assessing him.

“We’ve had one assessment, they need to have another assessment tomorrow, but it’s not looking good, that’s for sure, the coach said player like Tomi likes to exaggerate things, which is a thing of concern for the team.

Saliba will be out of action for France during the international break, but Arteta hopes he will not miss a significant portion of Arsenal’s run-in.

Rob Holding made his first start of the Premier League season against Palace, and Arteta says more fringe players will need to step up as the Gunners chase their first title since 2004.