Arsenal may have done its bit to keep the Premier League title race alive on Tuesday, but Mikel Arteta is counting the cost after losing yet more players to injury.
The Gunners are still hanging on in the race to be crowned champion, having narrowed the gap to Liverpool to nine points with a 2-1 win over Fulham. Arne Slot’s side can restore their 12-point lead on Wednesday though when they host Everton in the Merseyside derby.
Arteta will be hoping for a favor from his former side as Arsenal looks to stage an unlikely comeback in the title race, although its hopes of clawing back Liverpool look to have taken another major hit.
The Gunners were only 15 minutes into their return from the international break when defender Gabriel Magalhaes was forced off injured. He wasn’t the only defender to give Arteta a scare either, with Jurrien Timber having to come off during the second half.
Already without Riccardo Calafiori and Ben White, Arteta’s options at the back are now looking pretty scarce, which will not help in their efforts to catch Liverpool, nor will it improve their chances of overcoming Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals.
“We don’t know how they are going to be,” Arteta said when discussing Gabriel and Timber’s injuries after the game. “We will be assessing them tomorrow and understand better how we are with those two.
(Image: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
“If there are two players in this team who never want to come off, it’s those two probably. Gabi felt something in his hamstring, we don’t know how big that is.
“And with Jurrien as well. He already was struggling very early in the game. He managed to continue and at some point he couldn’t. That’s the downside. Jurrien was a knee [injury].
“You can imagine, we’ve lost four players in the defensive line in one week – Calafiori, Ben White, Jurrien and Gabi Magalhaes. We have still another four, that are so willing that they will do their job.
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“There have been some big, big players in very, very critical positions and affecting the whole line. But we have a lot of good news as well. Look at Mikel [Merino], look at Ethan [Nwaneri], look at other players doing other stuff. So that’s it.”
Despite its problems at the back, Arsenal was boosted by the return of Bukayo Saka, who scored what turned out to be the winner against Fulham. With Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz out for the remainder of the season, the England international’s comeback couldn’t have come at a much better time for the Gunners.
