Arsenal: Mikel Arteta reveals timeline for William Saliba return as Gunners handed double injury boost | OneFootball

The Gunners have been boosted by the return of two players

Mikel Arteta is confident William Saliba will be fit for Arsenal’s huge showdown with Manchester City next week.

Saliba injured his hamstring during last week’s north London derby and he missed Saturday’s draw with Aston Villa.

The centre-back has been ruled out of Wednesday’s Champions League game at home to Dinamo Zagreb, too.

Arsenal are currently struggling with injuries in defence as Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu are also out.

The pair are suffering with knee injuries and were not part of training on Tuesday afternoon.

Riccardo Calafiori back training with the Arsenal squad

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Arteta has been boosted, however, by the return of Ethan Nwaneri and Riccardo Calafiori.

“It’s very positive news, we’ve missed them for a few weeks and they returned today for training so they will be available for the game,” said Arteta.

Nwaneri’s return is timely given Arsenal are light on options in attack. The 17-year-old scored in back-to-back games before his injury, emerging as an option on the right flank in the absence of Bukayo Saka.

“It was a big setback because he (Nwaneri) was getting some consistency and more minutes,” said Arteta.

“We made him play in a different position and he was doing really well, then suddenly this happens.

“It’s understandable with the load as well, it goes through the roof immediately and this is what we have to manage.”

Ethan Nwaneri has caught the eye this season.

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Saka is progressing well with his recovery and is set to go on holiday this week, after Arteta advised him to.

“He’s doing really well, he’s feeling better day by day, but we have to respect the healing process and then he has a lot of stages to go through in his rehab,” said Arteta.