Arsenal’s key defender William Saliba has missed their last two games of the crucial Premier League title race run-in.
Saliba has been a crucial part of the Gunners’ success this season, making his name as one of the best defenders in the Premier League.
However, he has been absent from the wins over Crystal Palace and Leeds after picking up a back injury against Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League.
Arsenal will be concerned that Saliba may miss even more games at the tail end of the season, however, manager Mikel Arteta has hinted at a possible return.
When will Saliba return?
There is currently no set date for Saliba to return.
He has been undergoing further assessment to determine how severe his back injury is and he rested over the international break.
Now Arteta has spoken at his press conference on Friday and seemed to hint at a possible return to action for the Frenchman.
When asked about his injured players and specifically Saliba, the Gunners boss said: “No, no real changes with the rest of the players that were still injured.
“We have some hope with one of them who will maybe be able to train but we’ll see.”
Of course, Arteta may not be speaking at Saliba but his comments have raised suspicions as to whether he was playing mind games.
Speaking ahead of the Leeds game last week, he seemed positive about this situation.
Arteta said: “Yeah, I’m very hopeful and he is as well.
“Back injuries are a bit tricky, how they evolve with the load in certain areas but he’s very positive about it, the medical staff are positive about it, so let’s push it every day a little bit and see how he copes with that and how the pain develops.
“He’s so willing to be back with the team.”
So the defender may not be back for the Liverpool clash this afternoon, but there could be a chance that Saliba will return to training very soon.
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