LONDON (Reuters) – The only cloud on the horizon for Arsenal in an otherwise perfect afternoon in north London was a lengthening injury list that will have manager Mikel Arteta touching any wood he can find during the international break.
His side moved eight points clear of Manchester City in the title race with a 4-1 victory over Crystal Palace at a bouncing Emirates Stadium but they had to do it without defenders William Saliba and Takehiro Tomiyasu.
They join forward Edward Nketiah (foot) and Mohamed Elneny (knee) on the treatment table and Arteta’s fear must be that more players might return injured after international duty.
Asked about Tomiyasu’s knee injury, sustained in the Europa League penalty shoot-out defeat by Sporting on Thursday, Arteta said the Japanese player could be missing for a while.
“The doctor is assessing. We have one assessment and I think they need to have another assessment tomorrow,” Arteta told reporters. “It’s not looking good. Tomi is not one to exaggerate things. He was really concerned straight away and we are too.”
Saliba appears to be less of a worry though.
“We hope Willy is going to be better news. Again we have to wait to tomorrow to get a better picture,” Arteta said.
On the plus side Arsenal now have the likes of Gabriel Jesus and Emile Smith-Rowe back in action and Arteta says the fact that his side have prospered even when players have been sidelined is a huge positive for the run-in.
“We lost players, we lost Gabi for four months, we lost Thomas (Partey) for one and a half months, we lost Alex Zinchenko for one and a half months, we lost Mo Elneny for six to eight months. Now we’ve lost Eddie and Tomiyasu or Saliba,” he said.
“Everybody has to give a bit more. It’s not a secret. If we want to maintain that level we have to give more and Rob (Holding) is clear example of what we needed today.”
Even so, Arteta will be keeping a careful eye on Bukayo Saka as the youngster heads off to feature for England against Italy and Ukraine in Euro 2024 qualifiers next week.
“I want to think positively. Touch wood, but I want to think positive. They’re going to have to play games, they have to do it in the way that they do it here or possibly even better with their country,” Arteta said.
“We are in contact with all of them, they know how to look after them and hopefully it will all work out.”
Arsenal’s next league game is on April 1 against Leeds United when Manchester City, who have a game in hand, host Liverpool.
“They must come back with the same mindset and hunger from before to go into Leeds which is the only important game right now. We know it,” Arteta said.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
