William Saliba: Will Arsenal defender return from injury against Southampton?
Arsenal's Premier League title hopes have taken a hit of late, dropping points against Liverpool and West Ham, and it's been noticeable that they're not as secure at the back without William Saliba.
The Frenchman has been out of action for the best part of a month with a back injury, sustained during the Europa League round of 16 defeat to Sporting CP.
Rob Holding has filled in during Saliba's absence - an injury to Takehiro Tomiyasu meaning Ben White has been unable to move across from right-back - but gave away a penalty against Liverpool before being given the runaround by Michail Antonio at London Stadium.
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta has always refused to put a definitive timeline on when Saliba might return to action, but it was claimed on Monday that he could be willing to return ahead of schedule to help the club get over the line in their title duel with Manchester City - even though doing so could complicate his injury further.
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Arsenal play City in what many are considering to be a title decider on April 26, but there's the small matter of Southampton on Friday night beforehand. Saliba was pictured on a training bike alongside long-term injury absentee Mohamed Elneny on Tuesday but Arteta has since ruled him out of contention for a return.
Giving an update in his pre-match press conference on Thursday, Arteta said: "There’s no big news, the picture hasn’t changed from last week. Regarding William, we still have to wait a little bit more. 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."
When asked if Saliba would play again this season, he added: "I don’t know, it’s a bit early to know. Probably next week we’ll have more certainty. There is some evolution, he’s doing more activity but is not there yet to start to throw him into the pitch at the level the sessions demand to compete in this league."
Southampton are in desperate trouble at the bottom of the Premier League and need a superb run of results - as well as other scores to go their way - if they're to avoid dropping into the Championship for the first time since 2012.
For Arsenal, it's likely Holding will keep his place in the team alongside Gabriel Magalhaes, with a return to the side against City still an optimistic target for Saliba.
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